CititorSF - Editors' Choices

After the public vote regarding last year's publications on the Romanian sci fi book market, now the editors have published their own choices. The list(s) can be found at cititorsf.ro and I must say their picks are much closer to my own than the general vote results. So thumbs up!

2010 European Gymnastics Championships - Men

2010 European Gymnastics Championships
21.04.2010-02.05.2010
Birmingham, UK

Official Website

Results

Juniors Team Final
1 GBR Great Britain 42.675 (1) 42.100 (1) 41.850 (1) 45.525 (3) 41.625 (1) 40.425 (2) 254.200
2 SUI Switzerland 41.250 (4) 39.200 (3) 40.250 (4) 45.675 (1) 41.450 (2) 40.700 (1) 248.525
3 FRA France 41.125 (5) 38.225 (4) 41.025 (3) 45.500 (4) 41.000 (4) 38.500 (8) 245.375
4 ROU Romania 42.150 (2) 37.575 (5) 40.025 (5) 45.350 (6) 39.975 (7) 39.425 (3) 244.500
5 GER Germany 40.900 (6) 39.500 (2) 39.225 (6) 44.375 (9) 41.050 (3) 39.300 (4) 244.350
6 BEL Belgium 41.900 (3) 37.275 (7) 39.175 (7) 45.675 (1) 39.775 (8) 38.850 (7) 242.650
7 ESP Spain 40.525 (8) 34.825 (14) 41.150 (2) 45.375 (5) 40.425 (5) 39.300 (4) 241.600
8 ITA Italy 40.775 (7) 37.500 (6) 39.150 (8) 45.225 (7) 39.425 (10) 38.975 (6) 241.050
9 NED Netherlands 39.625 (13) 36.150 (8) 38.475 (9) 44.275 (10) 39.050 (11) 37.700 (11) 235.275
10 HUN Hungary 40.350 (9) 35.875 (9) 37.275 (11) 43.075 (14) 39.725 (9) 37.950 (9) 234.250

Team Final
1 GER Germany 44.625 (1) 41.200 (6) 43.475 (2) 47.525 (2) 44.150 (1) 45.175 (1) 266.150
2 GBR Great Britain 44.450 (2) 43.825 (2) 42.550 (5) 46.875 (5) 42.425 (4) 42.900 (2) 263.025
3 FRA France 42.525 (6) 44.525 (1) 42.675 (4) 47.025 (4) 41.975 (5) 41.375 (6) 260.100
4 ESP Spain 43.100 (5) 41.725 (4) 42.875 (3) 47.125 (3) 43.100 (3) 40.875 (8) 258.800
5 SUI Switzerland 42.525 (6) 40.100 (7) 42.225 (6) 46.125 (6) 43.950 (2) 42.225 (4) 257.150
6 ITA Italy 41.675 (8) 42.350 (3) 43.975 (1) 45.775 (7) 40.300 (7) 40.900 (7) 254.975
7 ROU Romania 43.675 (3) 41.400 (5) 41.475 (7) 48.175 (1) 38.500 (8) 41.450 (5) 254.675
8 GRE Greece 43.500 (4) 39.850 (8) 41.450 (8) 45.075 (8) 40.750 (6) 42.600 (3) 253.225

Apparatus Finals

Floor Results
1 87 FAHRIG Matthias GER 6.700 8.950 15.650
2 94 KOSMIDIS Eleftherios GRE 6.700 8.700 15.400
3 78 PURVIS Daniel GBR 6.400 8.850 15.250
3 89 NGUYEN Marcel GER 6.500 8.750 15.250
5 80 THOMAS Kristian GBR 6.300 8.675 14.975
6 156 KOCZI Flavius ROU 6.200 8.750 14.950
7 61 MARTINEZ Rafael ESP 6.400 8.425 14.825
8 157 BUCUR Adrian ROU 6.000 8.700 14.700

Pommel Horse Results
1 77 KEATINGS Daniel GBR 6.700 8.900 15.600
2 76 SMITH Louis GBR 6.600 8.775 15.375
3 167 BERTONCELJ Saso SLO 6.300 8.600 14.900
4 156 KOCZI Flavius ROU 6.400 8.475 14.875
5 100 HIDVEGI Vid HUN 6.200 8.650 14.850
6 30 VAN DAMME Koen BEL 6.300 8.275 14.575
7 119 BUSNARI Alberto ITA 5.700 8.175 13.875
8 72 TOMMASONE Cyril FRA 6.100 7.225 13.325

Rings Results
1 117 MORANDI Matteo ITA 6.700 8.550 15.250
2 73 AIT SAID Samir FRA 6.800 8.300 15.100
3 36 IOVTCHEV Iordan BUL 6.700 8.200 14.900
4 12 VAHAGN Davtyan ARM 6.700 8.000 14.700
5 118 OTTAVI Paolo ITA 6.300 8.350 14.650
6 89 NGUYEN Marcel GER 6.300 8.175 14.475
7 180 BOESCHENSTEIN N. SUI 5.800 8.575 14.375
8 88 HAMBUECHEN Fabian GER 5.500 7.500 13.000

Vault Results
1 66 TUUHA Tomi FIN 1 6.600 9.350 15.950 15.975
2 6.600 9.400 16.000
2 87 FAHRIG Matthias GER 1 7.000 9.150 16.150 15.962
2 6.600 9.175 15.775
3 156 KOCZI Flavius ROU 1 6.200 9.350 15.550 15.925
2 7.000 9.300 16.300
4 137 WAMMES Jeffrey NED 1 6.600 9.325 15.925 15.862
2 6.600 9.200 15.800
5 150 LYSZCZARZ Marek POL 1 6.600 9.325 15.925 15.800
2 6.200 9.475 15.675
6 89 NGUYEN Marcel GER 1 6.600 9.300 15.900 15.750
2 6.600 9.000 15.600
7 62 BOTELLA PEREZ Isaac ESP 1 6.600 9.300 15.900 15.737
2 6.600 8.975 15.575
8 74 RAYEPIN MOUTOUSSAMY FRA 1 7.000 8.975 0.3 15.675 15.125
2 6.600 8.075 0.1 14.575

Parallel Bars Results
1 75 CUCHERAT Yann FRA 6.200 9.075 15.275
2 95 TSOLAKIDIS Vasileios GRE 6.300 8.900 15.200
3 147 KIERZKOWSKI Adam POL 6.000 9.100 15.100
3 71 SABOT Hamilton FRA 6.500 8.600 15.100
5 136 ZONDERLAND Epke NED 6.100 8.975 15.075
6 148 KULESZA Roman POL 6.000 9.025 15.025
7 65 CARBALLO Manuel ESP 5.800 8.875 14.675
8 78 PURVIS Daniel GBR 5.700 8.725 14.425

Bar Results
1 93 MARAS Vlasios GRE 6.900 8.500 15.400
2 136 ZONDERLAND Epke NED 7.100 8.275 15.375
3 86 BOY Philipp GER 6.900 8.450 15.350
3 88 HAMBUECHEN Fabian GER 7.000 8.350 15.350
5 137 WAMMES Jeffrey NED 6.700 8.325 15.025
5 75 CUCHERAT Yann FRA 6.800 8.225 15.025
7 148 KULESZA Roman POL 6.400 7.825 14.225
8 166 PEGAN Aljaz SLO 6.600 7.200 13.800

Next weekend: Women.

Go Romania!

Supernatural - O Death

Yep, still watching... must be a record.

Supernatural - O Death



Got a feeling this is going to end badly... or with a cliffhanger, which I would hate.

CititorSF: Results

This is a good reflection of what happens in the Romanian sci fi and fantasy world and as well as on the local book market.

The winners are:

• Best translated sci fi novel - Hyperion by Dan Simmons
• Best translated fantasy novel - A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
• Best horror novel - The Call of Ctulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
• Best Romanian novel - Guardian Angel by George Lazar
• Best anthology/collection - Wastelands by Ed. John Joseph Adams
• Best translated short story - Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels by George R.R. Martin
• Best Romanian short story - The Epidemic by Sebastian A. Corn
• Best translation - Hyperion by Dan Simmons, translator Mihai Dan Pavelescu
• Best cover art - The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

I guessed 6 out of 8 winners, even if I didn't vote accordingly. I don't necessarily agree with all the results, but to be fair I should have read everything in order to make a well-informed decision, which I didn't.

All I can say is that I didn't like Hyperion that much. Sure, it's well written and well translated and that made it an easy read, but it just didn't do it for me. I kept feeling that something was lacking in some way. To that added the fact that I'm not really into fantasy and I can't stand novels that don't explain everything and stop shortly urging you to buy the sequel if you want to find out the answers to all the questions. As a result, and also as a protest, I didn't and I won't.

Something similar happened to Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels. It was my first encounter with George R. R. Martin's prose, and I could tell he writes well, very well even, but again it was not my cup of tea. It wasn't the writer's fault, this is a matter of personal taste, but it's not enough for a story to be well-written, I have to like what a story tells/shows me too, and in this case I didn't.

Regrets: I would have liked The Last Message is Eternity by Danut Ungureanu to win, but then again I haven't read The Epidemic yet so who knows, maybe I'd like this one better. If it's anything like the story published in the SRSFF anthology then I won't. The other regret is related to the fact that Dancing on Mars didn't win for Best Cover Art, and how Dune: The Machine's Crusade got more votes is beyond me. On a side note The Machine's Crusade was even worse than The Butlerian Jihad and I'm not talking about the cover, but the writing style and translation too.

What I gained from this voting process: it made me glad that I didn't waste my time reading some of the books I've read last year whether I liked them or not. It also made me curious to read the winning Romanian novel and short story, though I'm not sure where to find The Epidemic yet.

About the polls: nominating was difficult, but voting was easy in most categories. It was nice to see they've learned something from last year's voting process and didn't show the partial results this time. It looks like the votes are more balanced compared to last year, but it's hard to tell because the results are all scrambled. They should have been sorted or have some charts with different length bars to see them better. Maybe next time.

Anyway, congratulations to the entire CititorSF team for their initiative.

Full result list can be found here.

CititorSF: Voting Time

A bit late, but it was Easter so I got distracted by yummy food and other things and I forgot to announce that voting time has begun for CititorSF's readers. Luckily there still time as the polls are open until April 13.

The easiest category to vote in was Best Cover Art and I was glad to see "Dancing on Mars and Other Fantasy Stories" got nominated. That cover rocks!

So go vote.

Story: An Elevator Apart

The Easter Bunny came early this year and it brought another story. This one I've really enjoyed writing and the end result is not that far from what I had intended in the first place. I can almost see two sequels written in the future... when I get around to do that.

An Elevator Apart

Extra! Extra! ISU Summer Congress…

Something a little different but still entertaining I think...

Extra! Extra! ISU Summer Congress…

Reposted bellow:

Extra! Extra! ISU Summer Congress…

Two Olympic Games have passed since the 2002 events that brought a major change to the figure skating world – the much discussed Code of Points – and the ISU has announced a special summer congress to be held in The Maldives, in order to assess the development of the sport and address the issues at hand. Among the topics are:

COP changes
- as it has been demonstrated in competitions that the ladies are perfectly capable to execute triple Axels and quadruple jumps, there is no need to make a difference between Ladies’ and Men’s programs anymore. Starting next season, it will be mandatory for the men to include a spiral sequence and a Biellmann spin in their programs.
- however, since the safety of the athletes must come first, all triple jumps will score zero points regardless of how they are performed, as single or in combination, and the base value of the quad will always be negative.
- artistry will be evaluated solely on arm flapping and fist pumping.
- taking action in advance, before the music industry sues for copyright infringement, a selection of 10 music pieces will be presented in the beginning of each season for skaters to choose from. These selections include Carmen, Requiem for a Dream, Adagio, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Otonal, Moonlight Sonata, any music by Astor Piazzolla, tango or flamenco.
- the recycling of old programs and costumes will be prohibited.

New competition
- by public demand, all skaters who repeatedly failed to qualify for the free skate, will get a chance to perform their programs once every four years during the Summer Olympic Games. The competition will be called Little Olympics and the medals will be made of tin foil and candy wrappers.

New training facilities
- all year outdoor training camps will be created in the North Pole area. Skaters will be in charge of transportation, but once arrived they’ll get free food and lodging. They will also be provided with guns and taught survival skills and the Inuit language just in case they get lost.

Cutting costs and advertising measures
- the number of judges will be reduced to 5, from which only two will count. The other two will give the highest and lowest marks and thus ignored, while the third will be appointed as official corrupt judge and his job will be to take all the bribes and transfer them to unofficial ISU’s accounts.
- instead of laptops, judges will be provided with wrist watches with calculators, pencils and post-it notes.
- the technical caller will stand by the boards and use a megaphone to announce the elements for both the judges and the audience.
- standard blades will be two inches wide and have round edges to save on fuel and Zamboni time.
- skaters will be encouraged to display as many logos on their costumes as possible. For those who can’t afford new costumes or have no sponsors, bathing suits will be accepted.
- retired skaters will be paid small fees to appear behind the boards during TV broadcasts.
- short training courses will be organized for cameramen to teach them what the public wants to see on TV.
- fees for live broadcasting rights will skyrocket.
- access to any media and communication devices will be forbidden inside the rink, including photo and video cameras, laptops, notebooks, phones, iPhones, etc.
- bringing food and beverages inside the arena will be allowed provided the volunteers taste everything in advance (because they have to be fed too).

ISU Internal Regulations
- the President will be elected for life.
- the skaters will need approval from the ISU to retire.
- ISU will get a cut of the ice shows’ income for lending them the skaters.
- anyone who badmouths the federation or the sport, whether it’s an official, skater, journalist or fan, will get a two years ban from having any involvement with the sport.

Source: Journal Of Key Events In Figure Skating World
Date: April 1, 2010

The Expendables Trailer

We've been joking around for years about all the B movie action stars getting together and making a kick ass movie, and now it's finally done.

The Expendables are here: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Terry Crew, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzennegger.

Writer and director: Sylvester Stallone

Coming on the big screen August 13.

The Expendables Movie Website

The Expendables Fan Site

The Expendables Poster


The Expendables Trailers

The Expendables Movie Trailer - Trailer #2

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.

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!