GPS Figure skating season,2009 is already here

It’s been a long time since my last post. Just too busy for my work right now, and since hearing only Universal sports/NBC broadcast will show the GPS here.

But Ray got a great news, NBC ( not universal sports), one of the major broadcasts will show it for single skating, ladies and men both !!! and pairs and ice dancing will be shown at Universal sports.

I’m very happy to hear that because I much prefer to watch figure skating on TV to Internet.

October 18, (TEB)

October 25 (Rostelecom Cup )

November 8 (NHK)

November 15 ( Skate America )

November 22 ( Skate Canada)

December 6 (GPF)

Figure skating TV schedule

http://heatherw.com/mk/sch.htm

Disappointed news is Sasha Cohen had to withdraw from TEB competition because of injury.

I was very excited to see ladies TEB, because I was wondering how Sasha can compete with present top skaters with different judging system.

It’s also great to see her skating, especially for her artistry.

She has been struggling with her jumps, and when I saw her live at ice shows, I think she fell on one of jumps, but it didn’t bother me much, because her movements are beautiful to watch always.

Hopefully she will recover from her injury soon and won’t withdraw from Skate America, and also Nationals.

Johnny will compete in Rostelecom Cup (Ruusia ) and NHK( Japan ).

Also heard that Patrick Chan withdrew from Rostelecom Cup due to injury for his left Lateral Gastrocnemius muscle.

http://204.232.161.17/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?id=2467d033-aad7-495b-b9db-46426aeec5ff#

Also Kimmie Misener had to withdraw from while GPS for her injury.

Skaters are human, anything can happen, so I can not predict from past results by calculation and analysis seriously.

Every season, skater’s health condition is changing , and not always the same besides judging system and judge.

Health and mind balance may be the most important for skating competition, ( not only skaters but all the athletes ). Also plus equipment condition.

It may be mostly coming from one’s luck.

But it’s still fun to predict who will win every competition as a game from my feeling. Especially, when my favorite skater Johnny Weir is not there, I can relax to watch and predict.

For Johnny, it’s scary to predict and watching his skating live competition kills me from nerves. Especially for US Nationals and Olympics.

So I just wish him to do his best and hope him to win every competition.

Personally, other skaters I want to be on the podium with Johnny are Brian Joubert and Daisuke Takahashi now.

I love Stephane Lambiel and his skating the most after Johnny and Sandhu, and also I like Evgeny Plushenko.

But in this Olympic game, I feel they are not the skaters I’m rooting for.

Why ?

Because Joubert and Takahashi lost the podium last Olympics, same as Johnny unlike Plushenko and Lambiel.

I still remember what Johnny and Joubert said to each other at French gala after Torino Olympics game. They promised to be on the Olympics podium the next time.

Daisuke Takahashi also must be upset at his result at that time and I guess it will be his final competition season same as Johnny. Not sure for Joubert, whether he will retire or not though.

Plushenko already achieved everything what he wanted in his competition career, and Lambiel won Olympics silver medal, and two times world gold medals.

Yes, it’s competition, anyone can challenge whatever the record and career. I won’t complain if they would be on the podium.

Johnny is my favorite, so I have bias for his skating and a person emotionally, so no matter what I will always root for him.

So my personal hope for Olympics game is

1. Johnny
2. Joubert or Takahashi


And for TEB competition,


Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire

Here is the link for starting order/result page,

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpfra09/index.htm

Men

Peter Liebers (GER)
Javier Fernandez (ESP)
Ryan Bradley ( USA)
Chao Yang ( CHN)
Vaughn Chipeur ( CAN)
Nobunari Oda ( JPN)
Sergei Voronov (RUS)
Adam Rippn (USA)
Alban Preaubert (FRA)
Yannick Ponsero (FRA)
Brian Joubert (FRA)
Tomas Verner (CZE)


Ladies

Gwendoline DIDIER (FRA)
Anna JURKIEWICZ (POL)
Alexe GILLES (USA)
Elene GEDEVANISHVILI (GEO)
Kiira Korpi (FIN)
Yukari Nakano (JPN)
Caroline Zang (USA)
Mao Asada (JPN)
Yu Na Kim (KOR)
Carolina Kostner (ITA)


And my hope is

1. Brian Joubert
2. Nobunari Oda
3. Whoever

Not a prediction, just my hope.


For ladies,

1. Mao Asada
2. Yu Na Kim
3. Carolina Kostner


But this is with clean programs or almost clean programs. Not with many mistakes but still won those medals. I may change my mind though after seeing the performances though.

Artistry is subjective, and in my case, it's from feeling.

Hopefully, all the skaters will be able to show their best !

My review - Johnny Weir New interview The Outsports Part 1.

Johnny’s new interview from Outsports part 1 is already up at

http://www.outsports.com/os/index.php/component/content/article/43-2009/261-johnny-weir-the-outsports-interview

This interview is all about figure skating, and according to the article, in part 2, he will talk about sexuality, his own sexual orientation , crazy fans and his personal life.

I always love his interviews, and this is also no exception.

My impression of him from this interview,

So strong !

Full of fire !

Direct and honest as usual.

My top favorite parts of his answer is when he was asked about his competitors,

“ I personally have no resentment , because competitors mean nothing to me. I just need to do my best and think about what I’m going to do and make sure I look gorgeous. “

Really love his answer for this.

It reminds me of the quotes from Ma Zu,

“ Be a witness, not a judge. Focus on yourself, not on others. Listen to your heart, not to the crowd." - Ma Zu

Also I’m glad he sounds really well-focus for the season, not thinking about his competitors especially Lysacek.

I see Johnny has full of personality both off and on the ice. Ray and I often call him as “ Johnny of a thousand of faces “.

I jumped into watching men’s figure skating since seeing his skating last Olympics.

If he has no personality on ice, who can continue watching his skating ?

And I knew we were not the only people who were attracted by his skating, especially from seeing non-skating fans world wide.

One may look down on non-skating fans or newbie skating fans, but I see non-skating fans as more pure, they are seeing from their heart, without judging performances based on the judging system, especially technical parts.

Non-skating fans are more honest. They don’t easily jump into watch figure skating, unless the performance is breath-taking.

They won‘t watch it if there is no impact. Its all about using right side of the brain, instead of left brain which is more calculating, and thinking instead of feeling.

Skaters who have personality can attract non-skating fans. IMO.

Johnny has big impact. Whether like him or dislike him. People couldn’t care less about him if he has no impact.

His skating has deep emotion, natural expression, incredibly detailed beautiful movements which I don’t see any other skaters have.

Many people pay attention to choreography, transition, elements to elements, more than the natural movements itself and not feeling the emotion.

People are different. And I see different than those people. Maybe that’s why I loved his last season’s FP ??

I also always enjoy his off ice personality. He has variety of faces depending on the occasion to me.

He can be moody, good or bad, sweet or cold, mature or kid. And as far as what I know about him, my impression is he is always being himself.

People often talk, no one is perfect. But I sometimes wonder what is the image of perfect ?

It’s also depending on the person, everyone has their own image of perfect.

IMO, if one has only mature parts, no kids parts, it really bored me.

Although I don’t believe there are people who have no kid part in their personality.

Even the only person who I consider as the most mature I’ve ever seen has kid part.

We all are human beings, everyone has good or bad, like or dislike, biased or unbiased. Even gurus who are preaching life, self improvement have issues with that and can be out of control for their feeling. Because human’s minds are unstable.

That’s really natural.

It’s easy to be influenced from negativities.

I think one’s good point can also be bad point. Bad point can be good point.

For example,

One can see a person as stubborn. And others can see the same person as being him / her self who has strong root for their view.

How we see is very individual.

Also one can see the person as flexibly listen to other people’s opinions change their mind, follow the rule.

Other can see the person as no personality, no root, just like standing on the sand, easy to be influenced from someone else’s opinions for their views.

I think Johnny Weir is very brave to show his true self in public.

Also he is an independent, an individual person who I respect.

World Championships Track & Field, 2009 ( Berlin ) Allyson Felix won (200m) !

It may be the first time I watched World Championships for track & field this year.
Except for figure skating, I don’t usually watch any other sports competitions and I only watch Olympics.

I have been a fan of Jeremy Wariner (400m) since 2004 Olympics but since watching last Beijing Olympics ( 2008), and his struggle to get gold medal, and rivalry between LaShawn Merritt and him at that time, I became more concerned about his competition.

They showed the first round ( rehearsal ) two days ago, and Jeremy’s time was 44.64 or something like that, and he looked like he was not seriously running and I thought it just for warm-up before the final.

And in the final, he placed second with the time 44.60 !

LaShawn Merritt won with the time 44.06.

I was wondering what was wrong with Jeremy ???

Then in the interview, he said he has been having an ankle injury.

That’s why…

The time 44.60 is slow compared to his usual time he had been having in the past.

It’s really a shame, but besides mind set, avoiding to get health issue is the most important.

But how to avoid it ?

That’s one of the reason we can not know what will happen every competition.

If Jeremy Wariner was in best condition including his mind set, I really think he would be unbeatable.

In the last part, he already looked no power to kick in, which he usually had. So he might be protective for his ankle ?

Tyson Gay also got an injury after finished 100m final and had to withdraw from his other competition.

Even though Tyson could not beat Usain Bolt, he achieved the best USA time record ( plus his personal best ).

Rivalry can push each other and good for both of them to improvement. Without Usain Bolt, I doubt Tyson could get that time.

Unless Usain get health issue, I guess he is unbeatable in 100m & 200m.

For women, I was interested in Allyson Felix 200m in last Beijing Olympics.

I don’t know why, but I thought her running is beautiful to watch. Something about her, she is an attractive person.

When she was just standing, the way how she stands looks like a model. Her proportion is so well-balanced with long legs, not too macho, and not too skinny.

I was inspired by her win in this competition ( women’s 200m ).

She was so strong with confidence, with her elegant beautiful running !

Looked perfect mind set while running especially in the final part.

And that gave me and Ray power. Amazing !

Ray also was inspired by her running.

And her personality reflecting in her face.

Nothing arrogant, just naturally pure happiness.

It always great to see this kind of athlete.

I felt bad for Jeremy Wariner, but hope next time will be his day.

I still believe he is the fastest runner in 400m men nowadays. Before, it was Michael Johnson.

Top is still Michael Johnson’s 43.18 ( 1999 ), second is Harry Butch 43.29 (1988).

Jeremy’s personal best time record is 43.45 and still holds the World Record as third best in the world.

I hope Jeremy will break the record someday.

And Congratulations to Allyson Felix. I will always root for her.

Emanuel Sandhu’s SYTYCDC audition 2009

I’m so glad to hear that Sandhu is challenging the audition for SYTYCD again this year ! And was able to watch his dance on YouTube here !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI7bIwQuM7w

What an awesome beautiful dancer !

Every angle of his moves and his line are perfectly well done, technically, artistically. IMO.

And his expression is hilarious.

His standing pose in the beginning reminds me of Freddie Mercury’s pose in “ another one bites the dust “ in Queen’s music video.

So cool !

Sandhu has well balanced proportion and looks taller than his actual height . I think because he knows how to show his body line. And so did Freddie Mercury.

One judge called him that he is a beast ( of talent ). I agree, he is like a monster of talent for dance.

I really hope he will pass the audition this time. Such an amazing talented dancer.

I also loved his dance in his last audition. But when I think about SYTYCDC is for Canadian audience and they need ratings. Judges views also might be the same as the Canadian audience.

One of the lady judges said that she really hope Sandhu will come back and because she thought half of his performance was just amazing, and one of the most fabulous auditions she has ever seen, while other half was one of the worst.


I thought everything was fantastic including his humor in it and nothing bad about it. And I think it’s their personal issue, not Sandhu‘s issue. But I understand that might be not what Canadian audience want to watch.

I guess it’s just cultural difference.


But I’m glad all the judges love it this time.





Another good thing is he didn’t wear sneaker dance shoes this time, and this time he was wearing like same as my jazz dance shoes. Those shoes made his movements look more gorgeous.

It’s always fantastic to watch a great beautiful dancer like him.

I love his black outfit in the image above. He looks very stylish and cool.

All the best to Sandhu !

Johnny in Jewelry on ice show

Even though I didn’t expect Japanese media will write something about Johnny or catch his photos of his performances, I’m still disappointed to read this article below,

http://www.toyama.hokkoku.co.jp/subpage/E20090627001.htm
( Japanese )

As a Johnny fan, I want to know about him the most, how he skated and the reaction for his performances.

But in this article they didn’t even mention anything about him, while they mentioned other foreign skaters, Victor Petrenko, John/Rena, and Stephane Lambiel attracted audience with their unique performances.

I did understand Japanese media always care for only top Japanese skaters mainly, and little about Lambiel.

I have no idea why, but I think he is definitely very popular in Japanese skating world especially in men‘s skaters.

It’s really shame to see this difference between Korea and Japan.

Also, I was a little worry about his Poker Face in Japan, whether it is loved by many Japanese Johnny fans or not.

Just like it happened for his “Feeling Good” number. While his Feeling good attracted many Korean audience, in Japan, it was not ..

So Johnny later in his next ice show he changed to perform his The Swan by request from his Japanese fans vote.

I’ve heard many JP fans was touched by the Swan he skated in it, some cried, but the media didn’t talk about it same as this time.

I did understand there is cultural difference and common personalities between them also different.

Maybe Japanese media mainly cares for skaters who has high career reputation such as Worlds & Olympic titles especially for foreign skaters. Other wise they don’t care much whether the skaters are popular or not.

I don’t know about John / Rena , but Rena is in Japanese commercial , and also has talked about her skating life, her struggle on TV.

So, many Japanese people may be more familiar about her than other foreign skaters. Even though she and John don’t have World & Olympic titles.

According to Johnny’s Twitter, he said

“Long day. Didn't skate so hot. I'll do better tomorrow. Japan is amazing as always. Off to dreamland in 10 minutes... "

It means he didn’t skate well ? Or didn’t make big impact to audience ? Or he was just not so satisfied with his skating ?

There is no details, no info came up yet from audience, besides the no media attention.

But I want to scream to JP media, Please mention about Johnny Weir !!!!!

There are many people who want to know about him in the world !!

My memory of Michael Jackson

It was shocking to hear the news about Michael Jackson’s death by heart attack yesterday.

When I was a teenager to 30, I often listened to his music, especially Thriller video was always the biggest hit on TV while I was around 20.

I’ve been to his concert only once.

It was when I was around 29. He was so popular and at that time it was hard to get his concert ticket and to get the tickets, everyone had to line up in front of the ticket centers, and there was no phone selling.


I remember that my friend’s co-workers spent 3 days in front of the entrance of the ticket center and could get good seats.

And they shared the tickets with me and my friends.

Our seats were row 10 in the biggest concert hall in Japan, so I was luckily able to see him clearly, and got to see his famous moon walk and his amazing dancing and performance.

Even though I’m not the biggest fan of his dance, I had no doubt he was a wonderful dancer.

And his talent,he composed many music. He absolutely was on top of the world at that time.

My favorite of his music may be “ Heal the World “.
This music was made while Michael was doing charity for African children.

This music was unusual from Michael’s usual disco/pop music , but was something touching.

I don’t know much about his personal life, but I consider he was absolutely a sensitive artist whose mind was like glass.

But so far his death seems like it was a natural death, not something like by accident or unnatural terrible death.

So even though it’s sad, I think he calmly left this world to somewhere nice.

It always shocking to hear world super star passed away.


Heal the World - Michael Jackson

There’s a place in
Your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could
Be much
Brighter than tomorrow

And if you really try
You’ll find there’s no need to cry

In this place you’ll feel
There’s no hurt or sorrow
There are ways
To get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space
Make a better place …

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me

And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me


If you want to know why
There’s a love that
Cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares of
Joyful giving
If we try
We shall see
In this bliss
We cannot feel
Fear or dead
We stop existing and
Start living

Then it feels that always
Love’s enough for us growing
So make a better world
Make a better world …

Heal the world
Make a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

Pimple relieve

I got a pimple on my face a few days ago. Maybe because I ate ice cream , or maybe it came from Muenster cheese.

And while checking about some info for how to remove pimples, I happened to find the info which says toothpaste can relieve pimples fast at one of yahoo questions & answers.

So I tried it , putting a little toothpaste on my skin before going to sleep, now it’s almost disappeared !!!

I never knew toothpaste has such a power to remove pimples, but actually mint has power to kill germs , so I’m glad to find this discover !!