2011 NHK Trophy

10-13.11.2011
Sapporo, Japan

Full Results

Men

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Daisuke TAKAHASHI	JPN	259.75	1	1
2	Takahiko KOZUKA	JPN	235.02	2	2
3	Ross MINER	USA	212.36	6	4
4	Samuel CONTESTI	ITA	209.69	7	3
5	Tomas VERNER	CZE	196.63	9	5
6	Konstantin MENSHOV	RUS	195.88	4	8
7	Tatsuki MACHIDA	JPN	195.45	5	6
8	Armin MAHBANOOZADEH	USA	185.58	8	7
9	Brandon MROZ	USA	184.83	3	9

Ladies

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	185.98	1	2
2	Mao ASADA	JPN	184.19	3	1
3	Alena LEONOVA	RUS	170.68	2	4
4	Ashley WAGNER	USA	165.65	5	3
5	Elene GEDEVANISHVILI	GEO	160.44	4	6
6	Kiira KORPI	FIN	157.53	7	5
7	Mae Berenice MEITE	FRA	143.69	8	7
8	Agnes ZAWADZKI	USA	138.19	6	9
9	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	131.82	9	8
10	Shoko ISHIKAWA	JPN	122.14	10	10

Pairs

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV	RUS	177.51	5	1
2	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	172.09	2	2
3	Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY	GER	171.68	1	3
4	Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK	ITA	163.83	3	5
5	Caydee DENNEY / John COUGHLIN	USA	163.75	4	4
6	Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE	RUS	159.01	6	6
7	Marissa CASTELLI / Simon SHNAPIR	USA	149.02	7	7
8	Natasha PURICH / Raymond SCHULTZ	CAN	128.17	8	8

Ice Dance

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SD	FD
1	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	151.85	3	1
2	Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE	CAN	151.76	2	2
3	Elena ILINYKH / Nikita KATSALAPOV	RUS	149.48	1	3
4	Nelli ZHIGANSHINA / Alexander GAZSI	GER	136.12	4	4
5	Lorenza ALESSANDRINI / Simone VATURI	ITA	133.29	5	5
6	Lynn KRIENGKRAIRUT / Logan GIULIETTI-SCHMITT	USA	126.39	6	6
7	Cathy REED / Chris REED	JPN	123.22	8	7
WD	Alexandra PAUL / Mitchell ISLAM	CAN		7

Due to schedule conflict I missed a big part of the competition and gala, but Daisuke Takahashi was great.

2011 Bolero - Alexei Yagudin - La Heine

As you see, this dance was inspired by Romeo et Juliette - Les enfants de Verone. If it had been inspired by the original musical, De la Haine à l'Amour, Alexei should have been dressed in leather. Yes, I'm a bit of a Romeo et Juliette freak. Either way, the dance was great.

2011 Cup of China

3-6.11.2011
Shanghai, China

Full Results

Men

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Jeremy ABBOTT	USA	228.49	3	3
2	Nobunari ODA	JPN	227.11	4	2
3	Nan SONG	CHN	226.75	5	1
4	Yuzuru HANYU	JPN	226.53	2	4
5	Artur GACHINSKI	RUS	222.54	1	6
6	Richard DORNBUSH	USA	205.27	8	5
7	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN	204.41	7	7
8	Jialiang WU	CHN	182.49	6	8

Ladies

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Carolina KOSTNER	ITA	182.14	1	1
2	Mirai NAGASU	USA	173.22	2	2
3	Adelina SOTNIKOVA	RUS	159.95	3	3
4	Kexin ZHANG	CHN	153.32	5	5
5	Christina GAO	USA	152.48	8	4
6	Kanako MURAKAMI	JPN	150.20	4	7
7	Ksenia MAKAROVA	RUS	143.47	9	6
8	Bingwa GENG	CHN	142.09	6	8
9	Valentina MARCHEI	ITA	133.86	7	9
10	Qiuying ZHU	CHN	108.57	10	10

Pairs

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV	RUS	186.74	1	1
2	Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG	CHN	177.67	3	2
3	Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH	CAN	172.04	2	4
4	Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG	USA	170.63	5	3
5	Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN	CHN	169.47	4	5
6	Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN	CHN	162.96	6	6
7	Taylor STEELE / Robert SCHULTZ	CAN	141.84	7	7
8	Klara KADLECOVA / Petr BIDAR	CZE	120.95	8	8

Ice Dance

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SD	FD
1	Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV	RUS	163.52	1	1
2	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	148.40	2	2
3	Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES	FRA	130.97	4	3
4	Penny COOMES / Nicholas BUCKLAND	GBR	130.39	3	4
5	Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG	CHN	120.11	6	5
6	Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG	CHN	115.59	5	7
7	Charlotte LICHTMAN / Dean COPELY	USA	109.61	8	6
8	Emily SAMUELSON / Todd GILLES	USA	106.74	7	8

Yuzuru Kyuru is someone to keep an eye on me thinks.

2011 Bolero - Alexei Yagudin - A Woman And A Man

Here's another reason that makes fall bearable. Starting with this weekend, watch Alexei Yagudin each Saturday evening on Russian Channel 1 in a new show called Bolero, which pairs skaters with ballerinas and makes them dance. Alexei's partner this season is Christina Kretova. And they sure can dance. Perfect treat for Sunday morning for me.

2011 October Reading List

Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson – I didn’t like it even as a stand alone. Axis is still my favorite book from the series. 3/5 stars

The Dark Tower: Drawing of the Three by Stephen King - I kinda liked it better than the first TDT book. 4/5 stars

The Handmaid's Tale by Margareth Atwood – Why do people like dystopia? Ugh! I like to feel good when I read something, not depressed. 3/5 stars

Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn – Same as the first book from the Otori series, nothing much to add. 3/5 stars