It’s that time of year again. A time for us to reflect on
the past year…what went right, and what to improve upon. To find closure in
sadness, and to start the next year anew, opening a new chapter, if you will. I
would say my theme for 2016 was growth.
My 2016 Moments
There were moments of sadness in 2016. I lost my aunt I was
closest to. She finally lost the battle to cancer after a long, brave fight. I
missed talking to her on my birthday and around the holidays like I always
have. I’m glad I called her on her birthday and again while she was still here.
After that, a few members of extended family passed away too. They will all be
missed, but I have their memories to cherish.
Another unfortunate thing was that I had to take a hiatus
from skating. This is going to change next year for sure! I have missed out on
so many competitions and events this year, and it has made me both sad and
jealous.
Luckily, the time away from the rink mobilized me to do
something I had always wanted to do: start a blog. I didn’t know where I wanted
my focus to be. Obviously, skating would be in there, but I didn’t know if I
would also include music and fashion. I had started watching some old skating
movies and writing short commentaries on them for Facebook. I couldn’t get into
as much detail in a status update as I would like, so I thought that could be a
launching point for my blog. I started Icy Trails in July of 2016. The ideas
kept flowing through me, and still do. It is a great creative outlet in
addition to skating. Skating is something I have always had a passion for, and
I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things. I like to interject humor as well.
I really like the direction Icy Trails has gone and the commentary I have
gotten from the Facebook groups I’ve shared posts with. There were some
touching moments particularly on the Team 1961 post.
In other areas of my life, I have been digging deeper and
developing myself. In my professional life, I spent a great deal of time in the
Leader Investment for Tomorrow, or LIFT, class. This was a course to develop
future leaders. I had to reach out of my comfort zone so many times, talking to
high level management that I always found intimidating. I accomplished projects
that seemed like an impossible feat at the beginning of the year. I got advice
from mentors that has helped me a great deal in my career development. It has
helped me have more confidence in interviews, and just more confidence overall.
At church, I took on a lot of challenges this year, helping
out wherever I could. The children’s director chose me to lead the drama
section for Vacation Bible School. I was excited for the new challenge. I don’t
know why she chose me, but I’m so glad she did. I made an impact on many youth
and children and it was enriching for me as well. I can still make a positive
impact on children’s lives, even if I don’t have kids. Knowing I am looked at
as a role model motivates me to be a better person as well. I received a lot of
praise for my work in the drama section, but it wasn’t about me. It was about
getting the message of God and the love of Christ to those children in a way
that they could relate. I had a great group of young ladies to help, and I let
them have fun with their parts too. I cannot say enough about how that week
impacted me. Another undertaking I had was the 34 week Disciple bible study
class. In this class, we had discussions on almost all the books of the bible,
and shared really deep discussions. I consider myself to be good friends with
everyone in there now, and there were a lot of them I didn’t know at the
beginning of the year. I think our Disciple class was a model of how the rest
of society should work. We had people of all different political and sometimes
different religious perspectives and life experiences, and we could
respectfully discuss these differences and still like the person who believes
differently. There were no hurling insults or other things so rampantly seen on
social media. It was good to get a full context of the bible and to have other
to shares these ideas with.
At the conclusion of my LIFT class, we were charged to go
forth and become the next generation of leaders. At the conclusion of Disciple,
we were charged to go forth and be disciples to the world. In 2017, it is time
for me to make good on these promises and the expectations others have of me.
I’m out of training mode now, and it’s time to put it into action.
Plans for 2017
Other than the goals stated above, there are a few more
things I would like to do:
I will be returning to the ice hopefully in early 2017. That
means I need to get back in shape. This is legit what has happened this year:
Yes, going to gym and eating right are the most cliché of
New Year’s Resolutions. With skating, I will have motivation to actually do it
though. Skating is pretty much the only thing that will get me to make better lifestyle choices. I have an idea for a new dramatic program that is going to be the
bomb.com! I will also bring back an old favorite freestyle program.
2017 will be our 10th wedding anniversary, and we
will take a trip at some point.
I will also be working more with the youth at church. I’m
looking forward to that and seeing where I can help and have an impact. I’ll be
back working drama for the 2017 VBS too!
I’m considering starting another blog on music. I will see
what kind of ideas I can come up with. The focus is likely to be primarily hard
rock.
I want to live life more fully in 2017 and enjoy myself
more, and care less about what other people might think.
Other than that, I have most things wide open to see what
the year has to offer. Hopefully it will be good.
Hi everyone! It seems I have disappeared off the face of the
earth for a while. There has been a lot going on with work and the holidays. I
went to see my family and see my little brother graduate college! It was great.
When I got back, I noticed several skaters posting to
Twitter about the anime series “Yuri!! On Ice”. I read a few articles on it and
decided I had to check it out. This was a first for me. I have never really
been into anime, despite several of my friends telling me to give this show, or
that show, a chance. I was just not feeling it. Well, I have to say that all
changed with “Yuri!! On Ice”. I absolutely loved it and was hooked. Which for
me, means I binge watch the entire season and then feel sad that it’s over, and
wonder how I’m going to occupy that time. This is a regular occurrence in our
house! By doing this review, I still get to hang on a little longer. I know, I
have issues.
Here is the intro video, sure to stay stuck in your head for
quite some time…
Sing along everyone! “We were born to make history!”
Synopsis of the story
The story of “Yuri!! On Ice” revolves around Japanese figure
skater Yuri Katsuki. The first episode shows him in a very bad place. He
finished last at the Grand Prix final and was humiliated in front of his idol
Victor Nikiforov. The embarrassment was further compounded by insults from another
Yuri, newcomer Russian skater Yuri Plisetsky. Yuri’s dog had died too, so he
just finished up college and returned home to Japan, not knowing if he would
ever return to skating again. He went to the rink in Japan where he started
skating looking for inspiration. He had secretly been practicing his idol Victor’s
program “Stay by Me”. Some kids at the rink made a video of him skating to the
program, which went viral. Victor Nikiforov saw the video and was greatly
inspired. He then came to Japan to be Yuri’s coach. The story focuses on
improving Yuri’s skating and confidence, as well as the relationship that
develops between Yuri and Victor.
Character rundown
Here’s a rundown of most of the characters:
Yuri Katsuki
Yuri Katsuki is the protagonist of the story. He’s a
Japanese skater who loves the sport and is very determined, but lacks
confidence in himself. He starts out being quite socially awkward but develops
more over time by gaining more confidence.
Victor Nikiforov
Victor is the very handsome lead character, who seems to be
perfect in pretty much every way. Not only does he have good looks, but his
skating routines are flawless, and he is always nice to his fans. But
underneath this exterior, he has feelings of emptiness and loneliness. He finds
new meaning and inspiration through coaching Yuri.
Yuri “Yurio” Plisetsky
Yurio is quite the complex character. In his first scene, I
thought he was a total jerk. Then you learn more about him and come to some
understanding. He is very young and arrogant, with a bad attitude. Underneath
the bravado lies a softer side though. This makes his angry outbursts more
amusing.
Christophe Giacometti
Cristophe Giacometti is a fellow competitive skater from
Switzerland. He was unmotivated to compete with Victor not competing this
season, but still performed consistently. His main selling point in his
programs was sex appeal.
Here’s where I have to bring up all the comparisons I have
seen to actual figure skaters. There are many speculations out there, but I
have purposely stayed away from comparisons, as I feel it takes away from the
actual story. However, there is another fictional figure skater that comes to
mind to compare to Christophe:
Chazz Michael Michaels is sex on ice!
Otabek Altin
Otabek is the “lone wolf” skater from Kazahstan who didn’t
have a lot of friends, until he befriended Yurio. He was not seen much until
the Grand Prix final episodes.
Phichit Chulanont
Phichit is a Thai skater who was Yuri’s friend and training
partner back in Detroit. He is the first southeast Asian skater to make it to
the international level and wants to spread his love of skating throughout
Thailand. He is a really likeable character who is focused on enjoying himself
and the performance, and his enthusiasm is apparent.
Jean-Jacques “JJ” Leroy
JJ is a Canadian skater with a huge fan base and even larger
ego. He is intent on becoming the top skater in the world now that Victor is
not competing. His short program is entitled “The Theme of King JJ” if that is
any indication. He has the catch phrase “JJ Style!”
All of these skaters, and Victor as a coach, were
competitors in the Grand Prix Final. There are a few more skaters who didn’t
quite make it, with some interesting stories, and relationship issues:
Georgi Popovich
Georgi is a Russian skater who planned to rise to the top in
Victor’s absence (definitely a theme with that). However, he started to fall
apart at the Cup of China, still not over his breakup with a female skater, who
happened to be in the audience. In fact, heartbreak was the theme of his
season. He’s like the TSwift of figure skating, no?
Michele “Mickey”
Crispino
Mickey is the Italian figure skater primarily known for his
weird obsession and over-protective nature regarding his sister, who is also a
skater. He is a talented skater but doesn’t think he can compete without her
support.
Some other important characters:
Yakov Feltsman
Yakov is the coach of Victor, Yuri Plisetsky, and Georgi.
Maccachin
Maccachin is Victor’s dog.
Pork cutlet bowl
Not actually a character, but is mentioned frequently. It is
Yuri’s favorite food, and is enjoyed by everyone who tries it. Yuri tried to
become a pork cutlet bowl to get more comfortable being seductive for his
“Eros” program. Yurio’s grandpa also makes pork cutlet bowl pirozhkis for him,
which he shares with Yuri after the Rostelecom cup.
Technical skating
stuff
I was quite impressed with the accuracy of the Grand Prix
events and the IJS scoring system. They included all the nuances, such as
placing jumps near the end of the program for more points, or raising arms over
the head for increased difficulty. The programs in the series were programmed
by Kenji Miyamoto, who was a competitive ice dancer until 2006. His knowledge
was undoubtedly useful in explaining scoring and the various qualifying events.
Another thing the series did particularly well is providing
accurate landmarks for each of the Grand Prix locations. This was particularly
evident with the cathedral in Barcelona.
How the story plays
out
Episode 1: The beginning scene shows Yuri Katsuki’s
long time admiration of Victor Nikiforov. Then the scene goes to Yuri at the
Grand Prix Final. He had done a lot to prepare for it but still ended up in
last place. He was really depressed about it, and then finds out that the
family dog had died. After the Grand Prix Final, Yuri had to make a decision
about what he planned to do after he graduated college. After graduation and a
lot of stress eating, Yuri parted ways with his coach and returned home to
Hasetsu. It had been 5 years since his last visit. Due to all the stress
eating, he had gained weight and his confidence was quite low. At the hot
spring inn his family owns, Yuri saw the World Championships were on tv. He
then decided to go to the rink to practice. While there, he ran into his old
rink mate and performed a program for her. He performed Victor Nikiforov’s free
program and she thought it was amazing! Yuri was looking for motivation to
continue skating and this did it! Little did he know that his rink mate’s kids
had taken a video of him skating, and the video went viral. Everyone was
talking about it so he shut off his phone. Victor Nikiforov saw Yuri’s
performance of his program and became inspired. He then came to Hasetsu and
told Yuri that he was going to be his coach. Yuri was so shocked from this
surprise!
Episode 2: The beginning scene shows Victor’s coach Yakov
threatening that he can’t return to the rink if he leaves, and Victor leaves
anyway. Later on, Yurio finds out that Victor left and he is mad. Back at the
inn, Victor is sleeping and the ballet instructor finds him and asks Yuri about
what’s going on. Victor wakes up and is hungry, so Yuri’s mom gets him a pork
cutlet bowl, Yuri’s favorite food. Of course, he loves it. After eating,
everyone helps Victor move his stuff into his room. He tries to talk to Yuri
and get closer to him and Yuri freaks out. He can’t believe that Victor is here
for him! All of Hasetsu gets word that Victor is here and they are trying to
figure out why. Everyone at the rink is in shock that he came out to coach
Yuri. There is one condition though: Victor won’t let Yuri skate until he loses
the weight he gained after the last competition. After seeing Victor’s posts on
social media, Yuri Plisetsky is able to track him down. He flies out to Japan; Yakov
finds out and is very angry. Russian Yuri is in Japan to hold Victor to his
promise to choreograph a program. Later on, both Yuris are watching Victor at
the rink. Russian Yuri tells Japanese Yuri that Victor was working on a new
short program, but was feeling uninspired because he could no longer surprise
the audience. That made Yuri Katsuki really wonder what inspired Victor about
the video of his performance. They return back to the inn, where Yuri Plisetsky
gets the nickname Yurio, which he hates. Victor looks for Yuri and his friends
tell him he’s either at the ballet studio or the rink. They give Victor a lot
more information about Yuri, about his anxiety, his hard time putting himself
out there, and his work ethic. The next day at the rink, Victor begins
arranging short programs for both Yuris. It is the same music with different
arrangements: On Love-Agape and On Love-Eros. They listen to both arrangements,
and Yuri is more comfortable with Agape, Yurio is more comfortable with Eros.
Victor shakes things up and gives them the opposite songs. He said they have to
do the opposite of what the audience expects. Yurio wanted Victor to come back
to Russia to coach him if he won, and he would stay in Japan if Yuri wins. As Yuri
stated, he wanted to keep winning and eating more pork cutlet bowls with
Victor.
Episode 3: Victor demonstrates both the Agape and
Eros programs, and everyone is blown away. Yurio is over-confident that he can
skate Agape, but Yuri has no idea how he is going to skate Eros. Victor
challenges them both the find what Eros and Agape mean to them. Yuri attempts
to come up with a construct for the Eros program, featuring a playboy pursuing
all the women, but knows he can’t pull that off. They both return to the inn,
where Yuri blurts out that pork cutlet bowls are his Eros, and then is super
embarrassed. The next day at practice, Yurio is having a hard time finding
agape. Both Yuris then go to the waterfall, where Yurio has a breakthrough, and
identifies Agape as his grandpa. Yuri notices this new side of Yurio and that
he looks vulnerable. Maybe he’s not just the Russian Punk after all. Before
Victor arrives at practice the next morning, Yuri asks Yurio to teach him how
to do a quad salchow. They practice, and Yuri is still struggling to find the
core of the program. He puts in some last minute dance practice before the Hot
Spring Challenge. On the day of the Hot Spring Challenge, the stakes are high
for both Yuris. Yurio is up first. He performs well, but loses sight of Agape
and focuses solely on the program and winning. In contrast, Yuri finds his Eros
and who he is dancing for. Everyone is astounded by what they have seen. This
is a completely different Yuri Katsuki than anyone has ever seen! Yurio packs his
bags and heads back to Russia before the results are even announced, as he
knows Yuri has won. This win, and the help of Victor, has greatly bolstered
Yuri’s confidence.
Episode 4: Victor has a heart to heart with Yuri in
the hot spring about why he chose to coach him. It was because of how he moved
to the music. Victor wants Yuri to pick his own music, which sends Yuri into a
tailspin. He has always let his coach pick his music for him. They both call
Yuri’s former coach Celestino, and Victor asks him why he wouldn’t let Yuri
pick his music. Celestino stated that Yuri didn’t have a lot of confidence in
his own choices. Meanwhile, Yurio is back in Russia and a bit shaken by the
loss at the Hot Spring Challenge. This has motivated him to work harder. Yakov
brings in his ex-wife, a prima ballerina to work with Yurio, and she is tough.
Yuri continues to struggle with the music, and calls his old training mate
Phichit. He asks about a piece that a student had composed for him previously.
Phichit said he would try to get the music for him. Yuri has been stressed out
and avoiding Victor. Victor sensed this and called off practice for the day.
They went to the ocean and had some special moments where they bonded further.
There was even a DTR (define the relationship) talk. Victor was wondering what
kind of relationship Yuri wanted from him. Yuri is still unsure of how to
respond to Victor’s advances. After this day, Yuri decided to open up more to
Victor. Later that night, Yuri receives the program music. Victor listens to it
and likes it. They go back to practice and do several run throughs. This is
where we first see Victor’s injury. Later that day, the Grand Prix assignments
are released. Both Yuri and Yurio are curious about what assignments they are
skating. Yuri got assigned to the Cup of China, where he will see Phichit, and
the Rostelecom Cup, where he will face off with Yurio again. At the next
practice, Yuri decides the theme for his free skate is “On My Love” and the
title to the track is “Yuri on Ice”. He no longer feels he is fighting alone
with Victor by his side. He is not sure how long this will last, so he wants to
make the most of it.
Episode 5: Yuri has a competition in Japan before the
Grand Prix series starts. There are a lot of people he knows at this
competition. One skater, Minami Kenjirou, who won the Japanese Nationals last
season, idolizes Yuri and was trying to get his attention. Yuri goes first in
the short program, and is nervous about competing again. Victor gives him a hug
before he goes out. He was imagining being a “pork cutlet bowl fatale”, which
is just hilarious. After the short program, Yuri and Victor were interviewed. Minami
came out again to get Yuri’s attention, and this time he confronts him. Yuri
wanted to completely forget last season, but Minami remembered him. He has
looked up to Yuri for a long time. Yuri didn’t handle this well, which
disappointed Victor. He asked “If you can’t motivate a skater who looks up to
you, how can you motivate yourself?” Another thing Victor requested was for
Yuri to perform just one quad in the free skate instead of the 3 planned. Yuri
went for the quads anyway, but throughout the program, realized he was having
fun on the ice. Victor was irritated that he went for the quads, but realized
that Yuri was just taking after him. In the press conference after the
competition, Yuri declared that love was the theme of his season, and that he
would prove it with a win at the Grand Prix Final. He is starting to better
define his feelings for Victor.
Episode 6: Victor and Yuri leave for Beijing. Once
they get there, Victor attempts to talk to Yakov, but Yakov is still mad. Most
of the competitors go out for hot pot, and a lot of them end up getting drunk.
Phichit takes a picture and loads it onto social media. Yuri is worried about
how this will affect his image. There are a few skaters before Yuri competes,
so he tries to mentally prepare. Christophe mentioned it was hard to stay
motivated without Victor competing, and Yuri begins to feel like he stole
Victor away from the skating world. He is out to prove this was not in vain.
Victor noticed this change in Yuri. Yuri went out for the short program and was
no longer imagining a pork cutlet bowl. This program was all for Victor. He
ended the short program with his highest score yet. Up next was Georgi. He
planned to be the predominant Russian skater with Victor out of the picture. In
his program, he was still working through some baggage with an old girlfriend.
The program ended up being so ridiculous it was amusing! American skater Leo De
La Iglesia gave a solid performance in the short, and Christophe sought to
outperform Yuri in the sex appeal department. It was interesting to say the
least. Definitely not for children to see.
Episode 7: Yuri is so nervous about the competition
that he is not sleeping. He fell on a jump during the warm up too. He is
feeling the pressure and not handling it well. Victor senses all this and tries
to take him away from the competition and the crowds. He then told Yuri that if
he didn’t make the podium, he would accept responsibility and resign as his
coach. Yuri then burst into tears and said that now his failures reflect on
Victor too. He just wanted Victor to believe in him. Victor didn’t know how to
handle that. Yuri gets out and delivers a fairly solid performance, with a few
flubs in his jumps. Then he decides to change the last jump to a quad flip,
Victor’s signature jump. The last portion of the program was about love, and
the last jump was Victor’s jump. He was so surprised that he ran over and
kissed Yuri at the end. He wanted to surprise Yuri even more than he had been
surprised. As far as the competition, Phichit won the competition with a
stellar performance in the free skate, and Yuri took the silver.
Episode 8: In this episode, we see a lot of skaters
acting a fool. Yuri and Victor remain above the fray from all that nonsense. At
the beginning of the episode, they show all the skaters coming in for the
Rostelecom Cup. Yuri Plisetsky is surrounded by fangirls and tries to run away,
but his family is coming to get him. He narrates the beginning of the episode.
His grandpa comes to see him and he’s happy, but that doesn’t last long. The
press had all eyes on Victor returning to Russia as a coach, and he was soaking
up the attention. This infuriated Yurio, who started acting a fool by knocking
Victor’s coffee out of his hands and throwing a tantrum because he wasn’t
getting all the attention. The Yuri goes to the elevator, where he sees Mickey
and his sister Sala, where Mickey is warning Czech skater Emil Nekola to stay
away from his sister. Acting a fool, part 2. Yuri then is in the elevator with
Yurio, who has his usual bad attitude. Yuri knows he has to place at least 4th
to qualify for the Grand Prix Final. Before the competition starts, we are
introduced to an obnoxious skater, JJ Leroy. He tries to talk to Victor about
how awesome his jumps are, but Victor blows him off. Yurio is sad when he finds
out his grandpa is not feeling well and won’t be at the competition today. How
will he be able to perform Agape now? Yuri’s Eros performance is flawless and
he reaches a new personal best. Victor kisses Yuri’s skate. Seems they are
closer than ever. They loudly cheer on Yurio, which makes him angry. He performed
his short program well technically, but with no Agape at all. A fan throws some
cat ears to him at the end, which JJ further insults by saying “Ladies First”.
He dislikes JJ the most. JJ is the last skater, skating to a ballad about
himself. The fans all love him, but other skaters do not. Before the results
are announced, Yuri gets a call from his family saying that Maccachin is sick.
Yuri urges Victor to go back to Japan, but Victor is reluctant to do so, until
he runs into Yakov. He asks Yakov to be Yuri’s coach for the free skate.
Episode 9: Yakov agrees to coach Yuri and Victor
heads back to Japan. Yurio’s grandpa returns, this time with pork cutlet bowl
pirozhkis. He is staying to watch Yuri compete in the free skate today. Sala
Crispino finally has a talk with her brother Mickey, saying he needs to be able
to skate without her, and that she was going to start dating. This crushed him,
but he took out his sadness in the program and performed well. He decided he
would try to let her go. Yurio’s free skate was next. He rearranged the jumps
so there were 6 jumps in the second half. He used his anger to motivate him in
this performance, particularly directed at JJ. Yuri was next. He was a bit off
on the free skate today, but thought of what Victor would have wanted and how
he has helped him. After the free skate, Yakov was griping and Yuri was worried
he had blown it. Yuri ends up qualifying for the Grand Prix Final and ends up
hugging everyone as he is in a daze. He later runs into Yurio. Yurio was angry
that he lost to JJ again. He gives Yuri one of the pork cutlet bowl pirozhkis.
Yuri is contemplating if this will be his final season and how to tell Victor.
When Yuri returns to Japan, he is greeted with a familiar bark. Maccachin is
ok! Yuri and Victor run to each other. Yuri asks Victor to be his coach until
he retires. Victor says that it sounds like a marriage proposal and hopes he
never retires. It was great for them to be reunited again.
Episode 10: I think this one may be my favorite episode
in the series. In this episode, Victor is narrating. It was good to hear his
perspective. He finally feels free to be himself. He had sacrificed so much for
skating. He said he neglected life and love for more than 20 years. During
Victor’s time of reflection, Christophe comes to the hot tub. They hang out for
a while and then go to see Yuri, who was still sleeping. Meanwhile, Yurio is
surrounded by his fangirls, Yuri’s Angels. They follow him to every
competition. At first, he was trying to run away, but then JJ’s fiancé insulted
them. He then went on to defend his fans. Victor goes back to narrating and
talks about his journey with Yuri has changed him, from arriving in Japan and
sightseeing there, to all their competitions. He says Yuri’s life and love have
greatly changed him. This part always gets me teared up. Before the competition
starts, Yuri asks Victor to take him sightseeing in Barcelona, which was a
surprise. Meanwhile, Yurio’s fangirls are on the chase again, and he is trying
to find a way to escape. Out of nowhere, a mysterious person pulls up on a
motorcycle and asks Yurio to come with him. It was Otabek from Kazakhstan. They
go off and have a talk where Otabek remembers training with Yurio. He then
asked Yurio to be his friend, which had never happened to Yurio. Victor returns
to narrating the story, shopping with Yuri. They were looking for a bag of nuts
they had bought and couldn’t find them. Yuri remembered Victor’s birthday was
on Christmas. Yuri then goes on to look for a gift, and Victor watches as he
looks. Yuri runs into a jewelry store and purchases matching rings for him and
Victor. He said it was to thank Victor for everything he had done for him. They
exchanged rings at a cathedral in Barcelona. It is unclear whether they actually
got married or were engaged there. After that they continued to walk and they
crashed the dinner Yurio and Otabek were having, along with all the other
skaters (except JJ). Yuri had mentioned how he couldn’t even talk to Victor
last season, at which point everyone started talking about last year’s banquet.
They still had the pictures too. Apparently a lot of them had too much to drink
and ended up doing a dance off. There was even some pole dancing. At the
dinner, some of the skaters noticed Yuri and Victor were wearing rings. Phichit
thought they had gotten married and announced it to the restaurant. He’s always
so nice and encouraging. Victor said that it was an engagement ring, and that
they would get married once he won. At that point, they got interrupted by JJ,
but everyone pretty much ignored him. The next morning, Yuri was feeling
anxious, and Victor was out by the ocean looking at his ring. He was confronted
by Yurio, who tried to say he was a has-been. Victor brushed it off and said
that Yurio wouldn’t be this motivated to fight if he had stayed in Russia, and
neither would he. The last scene shows all six skaters and their coaches
walking in for the competition. Then all the pictures from last year’s banquet
popped up! Pretty much everything they talked about at dinner was true. At the
end, a drunken Yuri is telling Victor about his family’s hot spring, and asked
if Victor would be his coach if he won the dance off.
Episode 11: The Grand Prix Final kicks off. Yuri is
up first, and he and Victor use their matching rings in a prayer for victory.
During Yuri’s short program, Victor continues to narrate and talk about how his
life has changed because of Yuri. Yuri has a solid performance but does not
break the 100 mark. Phichit was up next. He knew he didn’t have the quads of
many of the other skaters but was just happy to be there. Next was Yurio’s
Agape program, which, as you will remember, Victor choreographed for him. Yuri
was being interviewed and noticed Victor was not with him. He was watching
Yurio’s program. Yurio finally got in touch with what Agape means to him, and
set a new world record with his performance, exceeding Victor’s record scores.
Victor seemed to be really enjoying watching the competition, and Yuri could
sense something was different. Yurio then comes back to cheer on his buddy
Otabek. He delivers a solid performance and then stares down JJ at the end. Today’s
short program was not so friendly to JJ. The pressure of the Grand Prix final
had gotten to him and he was popping many of his jumps. In spite of the fact
that most of the skaters find him irritating, they still had compassion for
him, expecially Yuri. It reminded him of his previous Grand Prix Final. JJ’s
fans were supportive of him as always, and Yurio was annoyed by all the
cheering. At the end of the short program, Yuri was in 4th place.
The episode ends with Yuri telling Victor he wants to end their coaching
relationship after the Grand Prix Final is over. Why did he want to do this?
Does he plan to retire, or does he notice that Victor might want to return to
competitive skating? Hopefully the finale will answer these questions. Yuri
wants to give the best performance possible in the free skate to show his love
for Victor and hopefully take home the gold medal.
Episode 12 (Season Finale): This episode begins where
the last episode left off, with Yuri planning to end his coaching relationship
with Victor. Victor is in shock. Yuri tells him he plans to retire, and Victor
cries. He is mad. He thought Yuri would stay and he could help him more. Yuri
had thought Victor wanted to come back to competitive skating, but Victor doesn’t
want to come back without Yuri there. They decide to make their own decisions
about what they will do after the free skate. The Grand Prix Final begins,
where Stephane Lambiel does a cameo as an announcer for the event. Victor pleas
for the people of Japan to cheer for Yuri today. JJ starts off the free skate,
but starts late. He has a flashback to the beginning of his skating where he is
dressed like Cartman from South Park, which is hilarious.
JJ has been falling apart at the Grand Prix Final, but finally
pulls it together and lands the remaining jumps. Phichit skates next, where he
shows his dream of starting a skating show in Thailand. Yuri’s free skate is up
next, and Yuri and Victor enter the rink dramatically. There is definitely some
tension between them. Victor finally breaks the ice to wish Yuri good luck,
sort of. They have an exchange where Victor asks why Yuri hasn’t won the gold
medal since he has coached him. This was likely an attempt to motivate him to
keep skating. Yuri goes out on the ice to lay everything out there. His
internal dialogue is amazing on this part. He thanks Victor for getting him
this far, and thanks Yurio for teaching him the quad salchow. All his jumps are
going flawlessly and he surprises Victor by switching up the jumps. Yuri wants
his final free skate to have the same difficulty as Victor’s. Yuri does not
want skating with Victor to end. He wants to skate with him forever. He hopes
the program is getting that across. He thinks that Victor continuing to coach
him will kill his chances of returning to competitive skating. Yuri is out to
prove Victor did not waste time coaching him. Yuri lands the quad flip, Victor’s
signature jump, perfectly, and Victor tears up. Yuri’s flawless performance
earns him a new world record, exceeding Victor’s. Victor sees both Yuris
beating his scores as bliss for a coach and choreographer and a diss as a
competitor. That’s when he decides to make a comeback. Victor approaches Yakov
about his return and gives Yurio a pep talk before he goes out. It is still
unclear whether or not Yuri is retiring. Yuri cheers on Yurio for his program.
Yurio wanted everyone he admired to watch him, which included Yuri! Yurio wants
to win to keep Yuri from retiring. Yurio falls on a quad, but gets back up
right away. He wants to beat Yuri’s record someday, and says that Yuri will
regret it if he retires. Yurio wins the Grand Prix Final by a very slim margin,
but Yuri won the free skate by a long shot. Yuri wins the silver. Victor teases
Yuri by saying he failed as a coach since he didn’t get gold. He doesn’t really
mean it; he just wants Yuri to keep skating. Yuri decides to stay one more year
and compete with Victor. Victor says he is worried about making a comeback and
coaching Yuri, so he will have to become the 5 time World Champion, meaning he
should skate even longer. Is Victuri over? No way. The last scene shows Yuri’s
exhibition, which is Victor’s free program from last season, Stay by Me. Victor
comes out to skate too and they perform a duet. The season comes to an end with
reflection from Yuri. Neither he nor Victor are fighting alone now. “We call
everything on ice Love”. Then the ending screen says See You Next Level. What
does this mean? Hopefully another season. For the love of all that is good, let
it be another season! Here is a clip of their exhibition piece. It has a
comparison between Episode 1 and Episode 12.
Themes
There were several themes that ran through Yuri!! On Ice.
1. Obviously, the primary arc was on Yuri and
Victor’s developing relationship, and how it has changed each of them. This was
a wonderful thing to see and the show displayed it out beautifully, using
skating to communicate feelings that they otherwise couldn’t. That explains the
last line, “We call everything on the ice Love”.
2. The second theme was displaying all the skaters’
inner thoughts while performing. I really enjoyed this part as it showed each
skaters motivations. Some were out to bring victory to their country for the
first time (Phichit and Otabek), others were out to enjoy themselves and create
art (Phichit), some were out to prove their greatness and potential (Yurio),
and some were out to display how awesome they were (JJ). Yuri’s innermost
thoughts were a combination of anxiety and proving his love and respect for
Victor. The latter dominated most of the later competitions.
3.Each skater was determining the types of love in
their life and what it means to them, whether it be for another person, their
own ego, or creating something beautiful.
4.This may sound like it’s stating the obvious,
but this the first show or movie of any kind to focus on men’s figure skating.
Most of the skating movies you see feature an ice princess or pairs where a
hockey player falls in love with a skater and they skate together. The only
movie showing men’s skating was Blades of Glory, which was a parody. Don’t get
me wrong, I love all these movies. I appreciate Yuri on Ice providing a
different perspective.
Takeaways
Throughout the series, there was a lot of talk on finding
inspiration and how it feels when it is lacking. I, along with many skaters
have felt this way before. It sucks when you’re just going through the motions
and paying to be somewhere you don’t really want to be. I took a break before
for this very reason, but I came back when I realized I was still in love with
skating and didn’t want to quit. That was my first comeback. I am super pumped
to get back out there again, doing what I love. I hope this will be a dramatic
comeback, in a good way.
I need to try a pork cutlet bowl. I might see if I <3
Sushi or Edo has it here in town.
The See You Next Level thing is blowing my mind right now.
What does this mean? Do they go on to skate after this? Presumably yes. Is
there a second season? Well, there are more rumors going around. I will let
these play out until we get more of a firm idea of what’s going to happen, as
there is a lot of clickbait out there. It would be interesting to hear more of
Victor’s story. No one really knows much about his past other than his skating
accomplishments. I think for next season I will review each episode as a
separate post. This big ass post was a lot of work!
I’m glad I re-watched the episodes for the recaps. It added
more meaning to the show. I’m sad it’s over for now, but if I survived Mad Men
ending, I can get through this, especially with all the fan made videos and art
out there. The fandom is awesome here!
Well, that’s it for this post. I highly recommend this
series. Stay tuned for my 2016 Reflections, and more cool stuff to come in the New
Year!
Welcome back to the "Figure Skating Costumes Through the Years" series! We are now on the 70s. As we have seen before, there is not an exact correlation to pop culture fashion and skating fashion, but pop culture does have an influence. There are a few common themes that run across the entire decade. Skirts on ladies dresses remain short. The early 70s costumes for men and women still carry some of the same themes we saw in the late 60s: high necklines for women and tailored suit looks for men. Throughout the decade, we start to see the necklines drop and the men's looks become less formal. There are a lot of flared sleeves, and stretchy fabrics are starting to come out for figure skating costumes. I'm sure this was a relief to many skaters. A reader commented on one of my last posts about getting fitted for costumes in the 60s and how much of a pain that was. And the dresses were made of wool! That would have been a no-go for me with my wool allergy. Another thing to note is that pairs skaters are beginning to wear matching costumes. This has not been the case in previous decade. What I find most fascinating about the 70s is that skaters began to develop their own personal style. Let's get some pictures out here, shall we?
In the 70s, the American ladies did very well. We had 2 beautiful and graceful skaters with iconic bob haircuts. Our 1972 Olympic Silver Medalist is Janet Lynn.
1972 was a highly contested Olympics that forever changed the sport. I will write more on that later, but to summarize, Janet Lynn performed a brilliant free skate, but did not do as well in compulsory figures as gold medalist Trixie Schuba. There were a lot of disagreements on this.
So, back to the costumes. Janet Lynn's signature style was a simple, long sleeved dress in a beautiful color. Here are some more photos:
Trixie Schuba had her own personal style too. Her M.O. was a black dress with blingy details, as seen above and in this picture below:
In 1976, Dorothy Hamill took home the gold medal. Her haircut inspired many teenage girls at the time. Her dress style was a long sleeve dress with a short skirt, and a lower V neckline with some embellishment.
Her autobiography is awesome, btw, if you haven't checked it out. I will have to write a post on skating books...
For the men, British and Canadian skaters rose in fame. Toller Cranston of Canada won the bronze medal in 1972 and John Curry of Great Britain took home the gold in 1976. The reason I featured these two men is because their skating is very different. Cranston was more of a comical skater and Curry was more of an artist. Both men left a huge mark on the sport. Toller was more of a chameleon with his style choices, and John had a signature look.
Toller Cranston
John Curry
With John Curry's costumes, all were form fitting and close to the body. In his iconic Don Quixote performance, he wore a shirt with puffed sleeves and a vest. He appears to have had a little more fun with the exhibition costumes, which were stretchy jumpsuits in a variety of colors.
Now on to another big shift: Pairs costumes. In our previous posts, the men typically wore a black suit or something very simple, whereas the lady wore a colorful and pretty dress. Now, we see pairs teams coordinating in costumes. In 1976, ice dancing was introduced to the Olympics, and they also joined in on the pairs bandwagon. Here are the first ice dance Olympic Gold Medalists, Ludmilla Pakhoma and Alexandr Gorshkov.
They have some nice emerald green ensembles, and his green tuxedo is especially dapper. For a large part of the 70s, the Russian retained hold of their dominance in pairs skating. Here are Irina Rodnina and Andrei Zaitsev, also in matching costumes.
Later in the decade, the Russians received a strong challenge from an American Pairs team: Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner.
The next picture is from the 1979 World Championships, where they skated a wonderful and exciting performance that earned them the world title.
The rainbow pattern and the skirt look very 70s to me. I think my mom used to have something with rainbows on it too.
As you can see, there are some big changes that happened in the 70s in the world of figure skating costumes! Hope y'all enjoyed it. I hope to get out at least one post on this Thanksgiving week.
Update: I saw that Attorney Brian Loncar passed away in November. Rest in Peace, Mr. Loncar.
Welcome friends! This is my first Off Ice, or non-skating post. For some reason, I have been thinking a lot about cheesy lawyer commercials lately. I'm originally from Houston and now live in Huntsville, Alabama, and I have been comparing and contrasting the lawyer commercials. I majored in marketing in college and I am fascinated by how they got these ideas. I then expanded the search to the rest of the country. The north and west certainly have their piece in the cheese too! Here are the 10 (ok, maybe more than 10) I found funny, stupid, just plain odd, and amazingly awesome.
#10. Attorney Bruce Flint (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
They break out into a rap, and then a concert! The graphics are pretty cool though. It's a catchy tune that will definitely stick with you.
#9. Attorney Ralph P. Chaulmers
Wow...where to begin....
First, I'm not even sure if this is real or fake. My favorite is the clip about "various other animal bites". "I took the bar so you don't have to be behind bars!" is another good one. With all the cheesy turns and stares, it is easy to see why the ad firm used this as a bad example.
Moving on, we have a quadruple whammy here!
#8. Attorney Charles Pittman (Huntsville, AL), Attorney Jeff Weinstein (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX), Attorney Corey Gomel (Houston, TX) and Attorney Glen Lerner (Las Vegas, NV)
Watch all of these...
Charles Pittman
Jeff Weinstein
Corey Gomel
Glen Lerner
Well I'm sure that felt like watching the same thing 4 times! How to they all have the same song! That jingle writer must be making bank! I will admit the Transformer truck in Jeff Weinstein's ad was pretty cool.
#7. Attorney Brian Loncar (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
I will admit, I have always wanted to drive a tank. People would get the hell out of my way then! I could also have any parking spot I wanted.
#6. Spencer & Associates (Milwaukee, WI)
The original video for this was kind of boring, but the "Make it Rain" song was added on this one, making it much more amusing.
#5. 1-800-Victim 2 (NYC, The Bronx, and Queens, NY)
I have 2 videos for this one. One of the description said this was the worst commercial ever, on at 3 in the morning. I could see how these would be much more entertaining in a sleep deprived or intoxicated state.
The squirrel seems happier in the second one with his jaunty rap and dancing.
We are on the final stretch now! Here are some commercials you are sure to remember!
#4. Attorney Daniel Meussig (Pittsburgh, PA)
I was really shocked the first time I saw this ad. I thought he was just letting scumbag criminals run free everywhere! Then I saw it was a satire and thought it was brilliant. It is certainly memorable. He has another video where he explains the rationale for this ad. It is quite long, but he goes into detail about reaching a younger demographic through social media.
#3. BRIAN WILSON, THE TEXAS LAW HAWK , Attorney at Law (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
Why is this in all caps? You'll see...
A lot of people wondered if this commercial was fake, but it is real! Also quite hilarious! Brian Wilson, the Texas Law Hawk, almost won it all, but there are 2 more which more wealth of experience that beat him out. I love the loudness, the bombast, and the cheesy skits. It appears his marketing strategy is also similar to that of Daniel Meussig, creating a funny video that goes viral to reach a target demographic.
Brian Wilson, the Texas Law Hawk! Talons of justice (caww)! The real star here is that adorable puppy, which is his dog.
#2. Attorney Alexander Shunnarah (Alabama)
Here is the attorney who is taking over Alabama:
Alexander Shunnarah's advertisements have become so prevalent in Alabama that it has become a game. On road trips, you can count all the Alexander Shunnarah billboards you see. It can also make a good drinking game every time you see his commercials on TV. Many believe that his billboards will survive the apocalypse.
While these are all great, there can only be one winner, and that winner could only be...
#1. Attorney Jim Adler, The Texas Hammer (Houston, TX)
Jim Adler has been advertising in Houston for as long as I can remember. He used to be "The Tough Smart Lawyer" (because no one wants a weak, stupid lawyer), and then he changed to the iconic "Texas Hammer". There are so many ads I could pull up for him, so I'll just pick a few of the best.
"I'm a barn-burning big truck beating hammer!"
In this one he gets "meaner than a junkyard dog".
This one is a gem here:
This one had my family laughing for quite awhile...I'm waiting!
He is even passing on the hammer to the next generation. His son Bill Adler has joined the firm:
Stop! Hammer Time! He should do a new commercial with MC Hammer! OMG I need to come up with this idea! I'll be rich, I tell ya!
All of these ads are also in Spanish, where Jim Adler is know as "El Martillo Tejano".
Besides these hilarious ads, there is a reason Jim Adler is #1. As cheesy as it sounds, he reminds me of my youth and good times with the family. We are all sitting around watching TV and we start cracking up. Even the little moments with family become the big things as time goes on.
Thanks for reading my diversion. I'll be back soon with more skating costumes and wonderful moments!
We last left off with the very emotional tribute to the 1961 US Figure Skating Team. I did not feel it appropriate to comment on outfits in light of such tragedy. In this post, I'll get into the events later in the decade. You will start to see a change in the costuming, where skaters develop more of their own personal style. This somewhat mimics the great changes later in the decade, except that, as we all know, figure skating is quite slow to change, and the change is much more subdued.
During the 60s, ice shows were still touring the country. As opposed to the large production numbers in the past, there is starting to become more of an emphasis on individual and pairs skating.
Seems as though the short skirts, fringe, and bling were here to stay. They have certainly been a staple in the ice shows starting in the late 40s. Ice Capades and Ice Follies also brought us a beloved character, Mr. Debonair.
Mr. Debonair was portrayed by Richard Dwyer. He wore a tuxedo with top hat and tails, and skated with six ladies in glamorous gowns. He also gave roses to ladies in the audience. Richard Dwyer still makes appearances at skating events. "Mr. Debonair" was at the US Nationals this year.
On to the Olympics:
For the 1964 Games, the US had a somewhat limited showing, due to the 1961 crash. USFS was building a new team almost from scratch. For the ladies event, long time favorite Sjoukje Dijkstra of the Netherlands won the gold.
In Dijkstra's dress, there are a few more style elements, to include the collar.
In the 1968 Games, the Americans were back in the game! For the men, Tim Wood brought home the silver.
The turtleneck trend kicked off big in the 60s. It became a common theme among men and women. Gary Visconti was also a top-5 finisher and is seen here wearing a snazzy sequined jacket:
In the ladies event, an American woman left a mark on the sport that would change it for decades. From her graceful skating to her beautiful dresses, Peggy Fleming brought a sense of beauty to the ice. Her style was one of refined elegance, as opposed to the more showy and flashy champions of the past.
She showed up for the games in Grenoble, France with two memorable dresses, in unusual colors with memorable details. But her skating was the real treat. She also has this fabulous exhibition costume:
Fringe mania! She looks great, as always. She has hardly aged at all after all this time.
For pairs skating, the 60s marked the beginning of Russian dominance in the discipline. The pair to kick this off was Ludmilla Belousova and Oleg Protopopov.
Oleg is looking very stylish in his tuxedo-like ensemble, and Ludmilla is serving up some fierce 60s fashion realness. The beehive hairstyle and makeup complement both dresses beautifully. As you can see, long sleeves were still the name of the game then. The silhouette fits slightly different, with a shorter skirt. The first picture shows a mock turtleneck style, which became quite popular in the 60s. Another notable change is that there is slightly more embellishment in the competition dresses. The gap is beginning to bridge between the "flashy" show costumes and "conservative" competition costumes.
Oleg and Ludmilla later married.
I met the Protopopovs in 2012 at Lake Placid during Adult Skating Week.
This was my thought at this social:
That being said, it was an amazing experience. They talked a bit about how skating has changed over the years and shows they were doing. They were so nice and down to earth.
Before I close this post out, I had a little surprise and bit of skating trivia for you. I am featuring one more skater, who designed her own costumes. She designs costumes for many figure skaters today, some of which helped them win the gold. Our figure skater of the 60s is fashion designer Vera Wang!
Alright y'all, it's been fun! Next time we will get even more groovy in the 70s!
