2014 Cup of China GALA / Exhibition

Erm, did nobody tell Julia that it is unlucky to open an umbrella indoors...

Well, for all those people that were saying yesterday that they wanted Julia to do a more "grown-up" routine, there you go.

But I wasn't too keen on it.

I actually prefer it when Julia is playing the child in her routines. For the simple reason that she is still a child!

And I mean that in all the possible meanings of the word. Her behaviour yesterday (getting so upset after her FS) just underlined that...

Yes, the likes of Liza and Adelina were doing more grown-up routines when they were that age. But they were more "grown-up" and mature at 16 than Julia is.

Sorry if this offends Julia's fans. I like Julia a lot too, but I'm just saying it as I see it.

CaroLiza_fan

gallavich said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNeW_6yQpI4

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Thank you!!:thumbsup:

Oh Kovtun

Meh, Peng Cheng and Zhang Hao have always looked so strange as a pair to me.

I loved that small moment when Elizaveta was like "Nooooo, Julia, it's not our turn to go yet"

CaroLiza_fan said:

Erm, did nobody tell Julia that it is unlucky to open an umbrella indoors...



CaroLiza_fan

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We've never heard of that bit of superstition in Russia. People do open umbrellas inside - mostly to dry them after rain.

Fayruza said:

We've never heard of that bit of superstition in Russia. People do open umbrellas inside - mostly to dry them after rain.

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It's a widely held superstition here in the British Isles. I have to admit, I didn't know the reasoning behind it, but there are some possible origins on this page I just found:

http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/umbrella-superstition

When we want to dry umbrellas, the most common practice is to leave them open just outside the door. And it is safe enough doing that. Let's face it, there's not many people who would want to pinch an umbrella!

CaroLiza_fan

CaroLiza_fan said:

It's a widely held superstition here in the British Isles. I have to admit, I didn't know the reasoning behind it, but there are some possible origins on this page I just found:

http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/umbrella-superstition

When we want to dry umbrellas, the most common practice is to leave them open just outside the door. And it is safe enough doing that. Let's face it, there's not many people who would want to pinch an umbrella!

CaroLiza_fan

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Not easy to do the same if you happen to live in a little flat in a typical high-rise building in Moscow! Anyway, that skating rink was big enough to be considered outside!

Was it just me, or was anybody else getting the impression that Nicky Slater might have had a glance or two at the Golden Skate forum during the Gala?

It's just that I noticed a couple of times that he was coming out with things that sounded very similar to comments that I had posted on here about 5 minutes beforehand...

(I'm talking about the need for proper protocol and rapid medical assistance in the event of collisions, and about Julia doing a grown-up routine).

On that subject, I just wanted to let you know that I have edited my previous post about Julia Lipnitskaia. I wanted to make it clear that I was talking about how upset she was after doing her FS, not about her missing the podium ceremony.

At the time I wrote that comment, I didn't know about her missing the podium ceremony. As I am sure you appreciate, I was more concerned about finding out about how Yuzuru and Han were before the Gala came on.

Hope this clears things up

CaroLiza_fan

I didn't watch the gala, but yesterday some people complained about him overusing the phrase "Good girl" and said that he would never have said "good boys", and then during the Men FS, he constantly screamed: "good boy". I suddenly got the impression that he might have had a glance at this forum.

Maybe he has a nick on this forum. :think:

Winnie_20 said:

Oh, what a charming skate by Lipnitskaia. Loved that.

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It's unfortunate that her career is over because she had a bad skate on Saturday....

Cute program!

GALA/EXHIBITION

Maxim KOVTUN

Richard DORNBUSH

Nam NGUYEN

Misha GE

Alexei BYCHENKO

Yuhang GUAN

Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA

Julia LIPNITSKAYA

Kanako MURAKAMI

Polina EDMUNDS

Gabrielle DALEMAN

Zijun LI

Cheng PENG/Hao ZHANG

Xiaoyu YU/Yang JIN

Xuehan WANG/Lei WANG

Vera BAZAROVA/Andrei DEPUTAT

Nicole DELLA MONICA/Matteo GUARISE

Gabriella PAPADAKIS/Guillaume CIZERON

Maia SHIBUTANI/Alex SHIBUTANI

Anna CAPPELLINI/Luca LANOTTE

Elena ILINYKH/Ruslan ZHIGANSHIN

Alexandra PAUL/Mitchell ISLAM

Shiyue WANG/Xinyu LIU

Boyang JIN

Always nice to see the Galas when the skaters shows a little bit more about their real personality, to relax and put up a show.

Liza - Costumes!!... Age appropriation costume alert, but anyway I like her FS more (ish). (I very much doubt Piazzolla had this performance/costume in mind when he composed the music)

Kanako - I enjoyed this exhibition, think it is her best work yet. Okay I know I am going to get into SOOOOO MUCH trouble, but am I the only one who sees a little bit Yuna in her recent presentation progression??! The formal Hello Kitty skater has turned into one of the best Asian ladies with added maturity and grrrrrr... in her skating. I'd say she got the right mark for her SP but because the first 2 were really over marked for putting out similar tech content, that put her at impossible odds, that she seem relatively under marked. She should be the silver medallist for me here at CoC.

Julia - Charming exhibition. I like her costumes (It is very American Horror season 3, all about witches and super chic black costumes). If she can change her black umbrella into a transparent bubble umbrella with either matt light silver or pearl white metallic trimmings, it will really polish the package all together well. Oh Julia, You are a brave head strong talented young lady, I have no doubt you can over come this bad skate and do very well. Just shake things off, and learn from your many mistakes this time round.

Zijun- Undermarked in everything. It seems the judges are making extra sure she won't benefit from all the past inflation for GP/world championship/Olympics events at home, especially with WC2015 in Shanghai. Although she does have her deficiencies, in the overall scale of things among all the ladies, she should have done better. Liked her self choreographed program... hope your dream comes closer tomorrow than it did today.

Polina - I want to like you and try to see what people see in you, but sorry, I still think you have at least 1-2 years to go to warrant the type of hype. I far prefer Ashley and Gracie at this point. The gala was a good idea, but some how it lost its steam by the end.

Richard Dornbush - Most pleasant surprise at the competition. You deserve a silver medal given what you put on the ice. Undermarked in PCS on both events, possibly because of US no #4/5? I am generally impressed with the US men's programs this year, and I think the Yellow FS has one of the best music edit for a program with lyrics so far. Love the concept of the Gala, and the only thing cuter than the 'threatening bull cuddly toy' you confronted on ice, is have Zijun wearing two bull horns on ice and looking at your red capes with mad round eyes.

Max - A Plushenko wanna be, and I got a little embarrassed watching this 'exhibition'. Between him and the other Max, not sure who's worse, but hey...at least they all got their die hard fans, federation support and most of all their generous puzzling PCS.

Misha - Amazing to think he put this gala together at last minute, and wonder where he got that crazy outfit from (I hardly think it just lies in his suitcase and he bring it with him everywhere). It is like the most outrageous ridiculous thing one can find on short notice, which means he probably ordered from Alibaba Express via 12 hours delivery (China is ace for that sort of thing). Everything fun and enjoyable this gala is, Max's is not. Talk about feeding the audience and thrive off it. While this is not some amazing sophisticated master piece, but it is a case when personality, effort and energy is enough to compensate above everything else and he clearly enjoy performing and the audience love it too, love that! Cool exit from the rink.

Nam... I keep thinking he should go and do a few years of military training before he is allowed to compete. Totally unfair comment I know, but it is a case of he is far too boyish in his skating, performance, artistry for me to appreciate. Hanyu may be boyish when he first started, but he skated BIG, and his presence on ice is HUGE.

Loved all of the ice dancers exhibition programs, so much theater and drama. Exquisite performance by Vera/Andrei.

Ricky was great, I chuckled throughout his entire program.

I think Kanako reminds me of Yuna recently because she has become more polished and learned to move with more precision and control. I actually think that Kanako has more resemblance to Yuna when she first emerged on the scene: similar build, good speed, powerful skating type, and a kind of liquidity to arm movements despite their very different personalities. Previously, she was often bursting with a lot of uncontrolled energy in her performances. Now she seems to get better at finding the balance between emotional and athletic performance, containing herself, knowing when and where to let the energy out to her advantage. She has already had a good sense of style and presentation, and with more training, experience and life lessons learned from her compatriots like Akiko and Mao, the maturity and depth just come together. The incorporation of ballet training seems to pay off.

Yeah, you are definitely not alone, quite a few fans on other boards also found Kana is a bit like Yuna this time, then get into some trouble ..... >_<
I really enjoyed Ricky's EX :

Please be kind to each other. There are clear cultural divides in the world on whether a sixteen year old is a child, an adult, or somewhere in between.

In the US, in some states, a 16 year old can be tried as an adult in court, but can't have a beer or get married without parental consent. Even within a country, people can be wildly inconsistent.

Loved exhibitions of Yulia, Ilinykh&Zhiganshin and Bazarova&Deputat!!

thoakun said:

I didn't watch the gala, but yesterday some people complained about him overusing the phrase "Good girl" and said that he would never have said "good boys", and then during the Men FS, he constantly screamed: "good boy". I suddenly got the impression that he might have had a glance at this forum.

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That was actually the other commentator who kept saying it, Mark Hanretty. He tweeted that his wife had actually "complained" about it and that he hopes to get a chance to commentate again and come up with other catchphrases