Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Wolverine vs. John Connor


Well, not quite but something close... X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Terminator Salvation were the most anticipated movies of 2009 for me. And then they came out and turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the year. That's why I didn't even bother to write a review for them, I kept hoping they would look better at a second viewing but they didn't, not enough anyway.

Now that the nominees voting season for MTV Movie Awards has started, it looks like Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman aren't just on screen rival magicians like in The Prestige, but they also took their rivalry off screen as they are both competing in the same categories:

Best Fight:
Hugh Jackman & Liev Schreiber vs. Ryan Reynolds - 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'
Hugh Jackman vs. Liev Schreiber - 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'
Sam Worthington vs. Terminator - 'Terminator Salvation'

Best Villain:
Liev Schreiber - 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

Best Ass Kicking Star:
Christian Bale
Hugh Jackman

Best Female Breakout Star:
Moon Bloodgood - 'Terminator Salvation'

Best Male Breakout Star:
Sam Worthington - 'Terminator Salvation'

Best Male Performance:
Christian Bale - 'Terminator Salvation'
Hugh Jackman - 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

Global Superstar:
Christian Bale
Hugh Jackman

Best Movie:
Terminator Salvation
X-Men Origins: Wolverine


Given the teen age range of the MTV's audience, probably some Twilight saga or other stupid comedy movie will be the big winner and sweep the awards, though. If you care go vote, if you don't just forget about it and watch The Prestige.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

2010 Worlds Comments


As usual, more or less random comments will follow regarding the last skating event of this season.

- It was nice to see the familiar interior of Palavela ice rink. It brought back good memories from 2005 Euros and 2006 Olys.
- the red flower arrangement from the kiss and cry looked interesting but also odd. That type of flowers is mainly used at funerals here. Anyways, the white flowers from Tallinn will be hard to beat.
- I missed listening to my favorite Romanian commentator, Cornel Gheorghe. In his absence, Florin Gafencu was pretty good at his job too. Yvonne Ghita was bloody annoying as usual and made tons of mistakes, but after all this time I've learned to tune her out.
- after not airing any of the Grand Prix events this season, Eurosport decided to air only the last two groups or so during Worlds, bu huuu! Since Romanian television adopted a similar schedule, I chose Eurosport for the added bonus of live interviews with the skaters in between programs. Maurizio Margalio and Barbara Fusar-Poli were just so so as presenters, but it would have been much better if Ms. Ghita hadn't tried to translate what they were saying. It was annoying more often than not.
- when Eurosport was too greedy to show skating I watched online a Swedish live feed so I didn't miss anything. I didn't understand a word from Swedish except for the names, but it was less tiring on the ears compared to Russian or Turkish.
- it was nice to see some skaters who have retired and now are working behind the boards.
- the camera work was bloody awful, with repeated show of either the upper half of lower half of the skaters' bodies.
- I liked the way they dressed the medal carrier girls in yellow, white and brown.
OK, on with the real comments...

Pairs
- it's not exactly my favorite discipline so I'll keep it short.
- Pang/Tong fully deserved the title. I liked then ever since the days when they still lack in expressivity and I was happy for them. Flirting didn't work out so well for Pang, but other than that everything was well done.
- I felt sorry for Savchenko/Szolkowy, it would have been nice for them to get a third title, but they made mistakes and they lost on their own hand. I'm curious if they keep competing after this season.
- I don't care much for Kavaguti/Smirnov, still it was unusual to see her fall and not just once but twice. It was like watching the strings of a puppet being cut off.
- I still have to see Mukhortova/Trankov perform a clean program, I think I've said this before, and now chances are I won't. The rumor is Maxim Trankov will skate with Tatiana Volosozhar starting with next season. I would love to see that!
- Zhang/Zhang were just so so. I didn't think I would ever get to say this, but she looks so cute with short hair.
- and I loved Jessica Dube's outfit for the FP.

Men
- something is very fishy in Danemark... no made that Torino... or better yet the ISU headquarters.
- COP changed a lot the skating world, but it's obviously out of balance. When it comes to skating, especially men, I want to see jumps. Good jumps. And last night it was a joke.
- I'm not contesting Takahashi's medal, he was wonderful and I loved every second of both of his programs. He showed what skating is all about, good solid jumps, he even tried a quad, and the artistry was there as well.
- it's not the same with Chan, though. His program might have been designed to get the highest score, but it looked utterly boring and half of the landings were shaky. For the life of me I can't understand how he got those high FP marks, if judging was fair and correct that shouldn't be allowed.
- I was thrilled for Joubert, after the disaster at the Olys getting the bronze at Worlds was great. He did two quads, but the rest of the programs was kinda empty and he lost speed towards the end. Yes, I know I complained about his choreography before, or lack of, so I guess the solution for him would be to hire Mrs. Nichol to design his programs for next season and then no one would get in his way.
- Brezina was like a breath of fresh air. His programs still have a junior feeling, but that can be corrected in time. He reminds me of Verner in his good times.
- Abbott doesn't do it for me, he has a nice skating flow, but that can't make up for the boring programs, they put me to sleep.
- Rippon is something to look forward too. I loved his jumps with arms held above his head.
- Contesti wasn't bad, unfortunately the programs were better than the way they were performed. He was better last season.
- Van Der Perren had the skate of his lifetime and I was so happy for him . He did a 4-3-3 and even managed the triple Axel, a joy to watch.
- I think I'm starting to like Schultheiss more than Berntsonn, he's turning into an interesting skater and he can deliver a clean program.
- Kozuka,Fernandez and Ten are skaters to look forward to in the future, and the same goes for Amodio, Pfeifer and possibly Voronov and and Kovalevski.
- other men I enjoyed watching but didn't remember seeing before were the Puerto Rican, Mexican and British guy.

Ice Dance
- I still find Virtue/Moir too boring for my taste.
- Davis/White are definitely my favorite couple this season, I loved both their OD and FD and I wished they had placed higher.
- Faielli/Scalli were OK, their style is slow and dramatic, but no ballet thank God!, and that can't be helped, but I kinda liked them more at Euros.
- watching Pechalat/Bourzat and the Kerrs felt like they were cheating a little reprising their last season FD and OD, but it was nice to watch them as usual.
- when Capellini/Lanote took the ice I was pleased to see she got rid of that awful black costume from the Euros only to realise at the end of their FD that the black one fit the theme better than the red cocktail dress.
- another couple I liked was Carron/Jones, particularly the OD, though the recycling of Delobel/Schoenfelder's old costume was a bad decision, especially for Worlds.

Ladies
- not much to say here, since their competition was too long and I tend to find them boring.
- top ten was interesting enough to watch, very few had clean skates, though.
- I liked the podium and I was happy for Asada, Kim and Lepisto.

Gala
- Brian Joubert rocked the house and his exhibition number was the highlight of the event for me.
- I claimed before that Chan was a boring skater and I got the confirmation I was right; Coldplay is one of the most boring bands I've ever heard.
- Pechalat/Bourzat were the other highlight for me, I love it when they are playful.
- the rest of the gala was a bit of a snooze.

And this concludes another great skating season. See you again in the fall!

2010 World Figure Skating Championships

2010 World Figure Skating Championships
22-28.03.2010
Torino, Italy

Official Website


Results


Men

FPl.NameNationPointsSPFS
1Daisuke TAKAHASHI

JPN
257.7011
2Patrick CHAN

CAN
247.2222
3Brian JOUBERT

FRA
241.7434
4Michal BREZINA

CZE
236.0653
5Jeremy ABBOTT

USA
232.1066
6Adam RIPPON

USA
231.4775
7Samuel CONTESTI

ITA
218.66811
8Kevin VAN DER PERREN

BEL
218.43109
9Adrian SCHULTHEISS

SWE
218.26127
10Takahiko KOZUKA

JPN
216.73412
11Kevin REYNOLDS

CAN
216.58148
12Javier FERNANDEZ

ESP
215.661310
13Denis TEN

KAZ
202.46915
14Sergei VORONOV

RUS
200.601114
15Florent AMODIO

FRA
197.251513
16Anton KOVALEVSKI

UKR
186.031619
17Jinlin GUAN

CHN
182.681916
18Ryan BRADLEY

USA
179.242117
19Alexandr KAZAKOV

BLR
175.572418
20Viktor PFEIFER

AUT
170.791721
21Abzal RAKIMGALIEV

KAZ
166.202220
22Jamal OTHMAN

SUI
156.412022
23Min-Seok KIM

KOR
149.311824
24Ari-Pekka NURMENKARI

FIN
148.342323
25Peter LIEBERS

GER
FNR25
26Pavel KASKA

CZE
FNR26
27Kevin ALVES

BRA
FNR27
28Nobunari ODA

JPN
FNR28
29Boris MARTINEC

CRO
FNR29
30Matthew PARR

GBR
FNR30
31Peter REITMAYER

SVK
FNR31
32Zoltan KELEMEN

ROU
FNR32
33Damjan OSTOJIC

BIH
FNR33
34Andrew HUERTAS

PUR
FNR34
35Maciej CIEPLUCHA

POL
FNR35
36Viktor ROMANENKOV

EST
FNR36
37Stephen Li-Chung KUO

TPE
FNR37
38Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS

LTU
FNR38
39Mark WEBSTER

AUS
FNR39
40Georgi KENCHADZE

BUL
FNR40
41Tigran VARDANJAN

HUN
FNR41
42Sarkis HAYRAPETYAN

ARM
FNR42
43Maxim SHIPOV

ISR
FNR43
44Humberto CONTRERAS

MEX
FNR44
45Ali DEMIRBOGA

TUR
FNR45
46Girts JEKABSONS

LAT
FNR46
WDJoffrey BOURDON

MNE


WDArtem BORODULIN

RUS




Ladies

FPl.NameNationPointsSPFS
1Mao ASADA

JPN
197.5822
2Yu-Na KIM

KOR
190.7971
3Laura LEPISTO

FIN
178.6236
4Miki ANDO

JPN
177.82113
5Cynthia PHANEUF

CAN
177.5484
6Carolina KOSTNER

ITA
177.3145
7Mirai NAGASU

USA
175.48111
8Ksenia MAKAROVA

RUS
169.6458
9Rachael FLATT

USA
167.4469
10Viktoria HELGESSON

SWE
161.79910
11Akiko SUZUKI

JPN
160.04207
12Sarah HECKEN

GER
153.941313
13Alena LEONOVA

RUS
152.861414
14Jenna MCCORKELL

GBR
150.901512
15Julia SEBESTYEN

HUN
147.661015
16Yan LIU

CHN
141.291816
17Cheltzie LEE

AUS
137.781717
18Elene GEDEVANISHVILI

GEO
137.331221
19Kiira KORPI

FIN
134.491620
20Sonia LAFUENTE

ESP
133.312118
21Elena GLEBOVA

EST
132.852219
22Min-Jung KWAK

KOR
120.472322
23Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA

UZB
113.891923
24Manouk GIJSMAN

NED
111.942424
25Ivana REITMAYEROVA

SVK
FNR25
26Sarah MEIER

SUI
FNR26
27Tamar KATZ

ISR
FNR27
28Tugba KARADEMIR

TUR
FNR28
29Myriane SAMSON

CAN
FNR29
30Kerstin FRANK

AUT
FNR30
31Victoria MUNIZ

PUR
FNR31
32Bettina HEIM

SUI
FNR32
33Fleur MAXWELL

LUX
FNR33
34Teodora POSTIC

SLO
FNR34
35Karina JOHNSON

DEN
FNR35
36Zanna PUGACA

LAT
FNR36
37Mirna LIBRIC

CRO
FNR37
38Lauren KO

PHI
FNR38
39Martina BOCEK

CZE
FNR39
40Irina MOVCHAN

UKR
FNR40
41Sonia RADEVA

BUL
FNR41
42Ana Cecilia CANTU

MEX
FNR42
43Crystal KIANG

TPE
FNR43
44Georgia GLASTRIS

GRE
FNR44
45Gwendoline DIDIER

FRA
FNR45
46Marina SEEH

SRB
FNR46
47Clara PETERS

IRL
FNR47
48Tamami ONO

HKG
FNR48
49Abigail PIETERSEN

RSA
FNR49
50Charissa TANSOMBOON

THA
FNR50
51Sabina PAQUIER

ROU
FNR51
52Yoniko Eva WASHINGTON

IND
FNR52
53Beatrice ROZINSKAITE

LTU
FNR53
WDIsabelle PIEMAN

BEL


WDSonja MUGOSA

MNE



Pairs

FPl.NameNationPointsSPFS
1Qing PANG / Jian TONG

CHN
211.3911
2Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY

GER
204.7432
3Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV

RUS
203.7923
4Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV

RUS
197.3944
5Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG

CHN
195.7855
6Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON

CAN
177.0786
7Caydee DENNEY / Jeremy BARRETT

USA
172.4768
8Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV

RUS
172.0477
9Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG

USA
165.9699
10Anabelle LANGLOIS / Cody HAY

CAN
154.721210
11Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK

ITA
149.781111
12Vanessa JAMES / Yannick BONHEUR

FRA
146.581013
13Anais MORAND / Antoine DORSAZ

SUI
144.461314
14Maylin HAUSCH / Daniel WENDE

GER
142.981412
15Joanna SULEJ / Mateusz CHRUSCINSKI

POL
138.261515
16Stacey KEMP / David KING

GBR
132.871616
17Huibo DONG / Yiming WU

CHN
FNR17
18Maria SERGEJEVA / Ilja GLEBOV

EST
FNR18
19Lubov BAKIROVA / Mikalai KAMIANCHUK

BLR
FNR19
20Amanda SUNYOTO-YANG / Darryll SULINDRO-YANG

TPE
FNR20
21Jessica CRENSHAW / Chad TSAGRIS

GRE
FNR21
22Ekaterina KOSTENKO / Roman TALAN

UKR
FNR22
23Nina IVANOVA / Filip ZALEVSKI

BUL
FNR23
24Gabriela CERMANOVA / Martin HANULAK

SVK
FNR24
25Danielle MONTALBANO / Evgeni KRASNOPOLSKI

ISR
FNR25


Ice Dance

FPl.NameNationPointsCDODFD
1Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR

CAN
224.43112
2Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE

USA
223.03221
3Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI

ITA
197.85334
4Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT

FRA
194.39443
5Sinead KERR / John KERR

GBR
189.11655
6Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY

ISR
181.26866
7Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER

CAN
180.30977
8Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV

RUS
177.231188
9Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES

USA
168.77101010
10Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN

HUN
166.9013119
11Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE

ITA
164.5271214
12Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES

FRA
161.86151312
13Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER

RUS
161.20161611
14Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE

USA
159.68141515
15Cathy REED / Chris REED

JPN
154.93231413
16Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK

CZE
147.93181717
17Caitlin MALLORY / Kristjan RAND

EST
147.39202116
18Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG

CHN
142.80171919
19Kira GEIL / Dmitri MATSJUK

AUT
142.49191818
WDJana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI

RUS
59
21Allison REED / Otar JAPARIDZE

GEO
FNR2222
22Carolina HERMANN / Daniel HERMANN

GER
FNR2123
23Christina CHITWOOD / Mark HANRETTY

GBR
FNR2420
24Katelyn GOOD / Nikolaj SORENSEN

DEN
FNR2524
25Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN

AUS
FNR2625
26Jenette MAITZ / Alper UCAR

TUR
FNR2726
WDAnna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO

UKR
12