About 80% of the time I have no idea what you guys are on about, but it's very entertaining!

Just sobbed all the way through Joannie Rochette's short programme--I cry a lot during the Olympics, but her skate was particularly poignant in the circumstances--but it was beautiful. Yu Na Kim's skate was amazing.

@ reluctantbutaddicted

In the Prosecutor Mata Hari / Princess post, langdon813 commented that Kim So Yeon would make a great Six (Cylon character from Battlestar Gallactica - http://www.syfy.com/battlestar/index.php ), so we thought we'd take a stab at what our ideal cast would be for a Korean version of the show. ;)

We also discussed our casting ideas for an imaginary Coffee Prince #2 (Coffee Princesses) drama.

This would all come to fruition if Samsooki ever wins the lottery. :P

Oh, I missed the bit about CP2! I realized I know NOTHING about Battlestar Galactica except I'm probably not going to watch in this lifetime--too many dramas to catch up on... sigh.

CP2, eh? hmmmm.... Can we just have more CP1?

PS @ hjkomo : did you get it in writing from samsooki about the disposition of his lottery win? be good to have a contract... and when production starts, can I be a stylist please? just one show with no ridiculous frilly bits and men wearing shirts that have both shoulders, that's all I want.

(Hmmm, maybe it's the fully-shouldered wardrobe that I like so much about WUAS's Kang Ha?)

Moon So Ri as Starbuck.
Thoughts???

Kim Yu Na is like an ice cold assasin on ice - mentally the complete opposite of watching Michelle Kwan melt down at each Olympics and allow awful pipsqueaks like Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes to win the gold. Even Kristi Yamaguchi looked nervous bf her short program! The gold is hers to lose, Mao might just be that unlucky amazing skater that would have won it all except for the unfortunate circumstance of skating at the same time as a wunderkind skater like Yu Na.

The short program was spectacular all around, and good for Joannie Rochette to skate a personal best, if she delivers in the long and Mao falls on one of two triple axels, she can probably won silver. I can't wait for Thursday!

@reluctantbutaddicted ,

"Just sobbed all the way through Joannie Rochette’s short programme–I cry a lot during the Olympics, but her skate was particularly poignant in the circumstances–but it was beautiful."

@Joannie,

Oh hun, I even started sobbing before her performance started. What she felt during the end of that performance . . . sigh. Joannie's so amazing; before the news, she was my upset pick and favorite to win silver. Her artistry is exceptional, mature, and classy. But, losing your mom . . . I mean, I don't know . . . I mean, wow.

Definitely pulling her to medal.

@Mao Asada,

Actually shed a tear for her too. The Japanese Figure Skating media can be brutal and savage, in the way that the Korean FS media isn't with Kim Yu-Na, especially with Mao-chan. How much of a prodigy was Mao-chan? She was the most technically talented figure skater when she was 15, and as world junior champion, could have legitimately vied for gold had she been allowed to skate in the Turino games.

But, since then, she's the Sasha Cohen of her generation. Arguably the best jumper of her generation, and her edge work is beautiful, as if the ice was a trampoline. But, she falls. At some point, some years ago, you felt like the joy in her skating was sucked away from the constant pressure and expectations, and with the rise of Kim Yu-Na, she was no longer considered the most talented skater in the world. But, she came through with a clean program, light, brave (if still not free) and almost joyful.

@Miki Ando,

Sometimes I don't know how Miki deals with the abuse she gets with the Japanese press. When Shizuka won the Gold, Miki was treated like a failure. When she won 3rd in World's last year, the press was like "ehh . . . Mao was off."

@Rachael Flatts,

Jumps were great, but I didn't think her program is well suited for her.

@Nagasu (Arcadia's own!!!),

Nagasu + Nosebleed > Flatts. :D I love, love her. (And her mum is also struggling with cancer.) I hope, come 4 years, her training under Frank Carroll will become the leading American favorite.

@Kim Yu-Na,

Even though she set the record with her short program, I actually felt that particular performance of her Bond Girl program was a little workmanlike for her. Which is to say . . . Kim Yu-Na is not only to figure skating what Roger Federer is to tennis, but she's the one true rock star of the competition. In that way, she's almost like Shaun White -- she arrives, she destroys the field by doing something that everybody else "okay, we just got owned", and then she leaves it. The effect of the Bond program -- as it has been for the past half year -- is to end the race for 1st place before it barely started. She performs it and scores so far ahead of everybody else, that the long program becomes a concession program.

Yu-Na, maybe with Asada the fastest skaters among the competition, has the most expressive hands in the sport, next to Johnny Weir. Most figure skaters emote through the face and posturing, but she does it expressively through her limbs. Hands, neck, etc. In that way, she is a not unlike Jeon-Ji Hyun. When she works the sassiness of the Bond program (the flow of the choreography is stunning), it is all through her length. Her footwork is complex with dramatic transitions and edge angles, and she never looks like she's thinking through the program sequence, as she's going with that incredible speed. Then there's the K-pop idol flourishes and magnificent, casual pride which, again, flows from her interpretation of the choreography.

Anyway, this is Kim Yu-Na's Gala performance, to Rihanna's "Please Don't Stop The Music" You can see the Wondergirl influences all over the place. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZKeT7zLkMY

@ samsooki

THAT'S the commercial I was complaining about last night! Gahhh, no fair P& G! NO FAIR!

*sob*

@ yourewaytoonosey

"I didn’t understand how Ling loved his little sister so much. Where’s the sizzle"

Oh you hit the nail on the head. No other adaptation has created a Rue Ling-shan that is sweet, adorable, pretty-as-a-button, and had the OPW down so well she could give Bora a run for her money, except for Jamie's performance. Even when she made one bone-headed move after another, I kept going.....awww, she's so misguided and so purty and please little girl won't you give it up and crawl back to your Oppa!

And if @ samsooki hasn't already proven, men will love their OPW-perfected dongsaengs until the end of time (example: JNR, Bora, Minmei, et. al.) ;-)

I find Flying Fox's "Rashomon" story much better on novel than on screen, one of the novels that loses lustre upon changing mediums. I find LoCH the opposite, and Duke appears to generate completely different vibes on paper than on screen.

Hey, let's read Demi-Gods together this year! I'm going to grab the novels from my mom's and tackle it bit by bit. Also challenging my chinese to the hilt with loads of esoteric phrases and rarely used characters.

@ twin

*waves* You back from Dali, yet? probably not, but hope you are having lots of fun! You must've heard that Jordan Chan got married (these guys all marry so late), to Cherrie Ying! I didn't even know they were dating. And it's so meta that they got married, what with Jordan playing WXB in the 90s TVB adaptation, and Cherrie just finished playing A-ke Royal Tramp (and apparently dated HXM during the filming, again, totally surprising).

Anyways, I love reading about cute celebrity marriages. Wonder if Hye-Bin will tie the knot soon?

8 samsooki : OH! those little short track skaters!!!! adorable!!! sigh.

There was a full page photo of Joannie Rochette in the paper today, when she starting crying after finishing her programme, so I had to have a little sob on the bus to work, too. And a big article on Virtue and Moir's families and all the investment they've put in to their kids' ice dancing... Way to start the day with red eyes and a headache.

Best thing I saw in the paper today... (laughed out loud, to the consternation of the guy on the bus beside me):

"LONDON — Worm hunters, lethal robots and Nazi spoons are in the running for Britain’s quirkiest literary award, the Diagram Prize for year’s oddest book title. The six finalists are “Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter;“ “Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich;“ “Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots;“ “The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease“; “Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes“; and “What Kind of Bean is This Chihuahua?“ The shortlist, announced Friday, was narrowed down from 90 entries, including “The Origin of Feces” and “Bacon: A Love Story.” The Diagram Prize was founded in 1978 and is run by trade magazine The Bookseller. The winner, decided by public vote, will be announced March 26. Previous champions include “Bombproof Your Horse” and “Living With Crazy Buttocks.”

I lost it at "Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich". How far did you get?

@ reluctantbutaddicted
"I lost it at “Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich”. How far did you get?"

The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease--I guess I haven't grown up from my grammar school days. I always giggle at potty humor.

I was totally looking forward to watching Kim Yuna skate last night but sadly I fell asleep around 9:30 next to my husband due to having a bad case of bronchitis. I think I finished watching Cheltzie Lee skate before literally passing out. I was so bummed when I woke up at 12:30 am to have found out she won the short program by almost 5 points over Asada. I was so pissed especially after my husband told me how exciting it was. ahhh!!!