Music Monday

Whenever I hear that one of my favorite bands or singers is coming out with a new album, I get so excited to hear those first clips, that first taste of the new songs. Isn't it such a great feeling of anticipation, clicking on each song and hoping it will blow you away with its awesomeness? One Republic released their latest album Native last week, and I found a couple of songs that I loved upon hearing just a few seconds of them. I already featured "If I Lose Myself" in a previous Music Monday, and here are my two other favorites:

"Au Revoir" by One Republic

"Burning Bridges" by One Republic

Are there any album releases coming up that you're excited about? I'm always looking for new music!

Music Monday

Happy Monday! For this week's Music Monday, we're getting to know Aubrey from the EDGE series a little better since she'll be one of the featured characters in FIGHTING FOR THE EDGE, the next book in the series. I've stolen her cell phone so we can check out the ringtones she's assigned to some of her friends :)

First up is her ice dance partner Nick. They've skated together for twelve years, so they've grown up together, and Aubrey knows she can always count on Nick to have her back both on and off the ice. With the Olympics and possibly the end of their career coming up, they're focused on making this their most successful year ever. Inspired by that goal, Aubrey has made Nick's ringtone "Our Finest Year" by Better Than Ezra for this Olympic season.

"Our Finest Year" by Better Than Ezra

Next is her best friend Emily. If you've read the first two books in the series, you know Emily well! She and Aubrey have been BFF for over ten years even though their personalities are quite different. They do share a love for many of the same movies, though, and when they were roommates they always watched Center Stage together whenever either of them needed a pick-me-up. Because of their love of this movie, Aubrey's ringtone for Emily is the song "Candy" from the soundtrack. It's the song they always got up and danced to when they watched the movie :)

"Candy" by Mandy Moore

Then there's Chris. Aubrey has always known Chris as Emily's funny partner and her friend Marley's long-time boyfriend. But Aubrey and Chris will get to know each other a lot better in the next book. Her current ringtone for him is "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers because Chris is always optimistic and can usually find something good in any situation. He's a great person to have around when the going gets tough!

"Mr. Brightside" by The Killers

Over the weekend I shared a new teaser from FIGHTING FOR THE EDGE on my Facebook page. It's a snippet of a scene with Emily and Sergei. If you didn't see it, you can check it out here!

2013 Worlds - Free Dance & Ladies FS Thoughts

Still recovering from Worlds PSED (Post Skating Event Depression), but I'll try to organize my thoughts on the final two events :) I'll do the ladies first since it will be brief. I only saw the final two groups (well, most of them - I wandered the concourse during Sotnikova and was dying with laughter when I spotted a guy sleeping out there. Seems he wasn't too enthralled by the ladiezzzz either). Anyhoo, it was great to see Gracie skate pretty well. I'd like to see her work on her posture in the offseason and add more difficult transitions. I hadn't watched her long program much this season, and I just noticed it was kinda empty.

Ashley's program was beautifully constructed, but she really needs to add that triple-triple. I know she can do it! Zijun Li gave one of my favorite performances. Her Sleeping Beauty program was quite lovely! I just shook my head when Kaetlyn Osmond fell twice and got a standing ovation. Someone who did deserve a standing O and who received a rousing one was Yuna Kim. I've never been a fan, but this really was a spectacular performance. I usually don't care for Carolina Kostner's skating either, but I enjoyed her "Bolero" program very much. It was so mature and just flowed from end to end. And all done with a bloody nose!

On to the free dance! The first group was very entertaining. I've always wanted an ice dance team to skate to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, so I was thrilled to see Tobias/Stagniunas use the piece. I loved their interpretation, especially the transition into the circular footwork, beautifully done on a powerful beat of the music. Hurtado/Diaz were also a highlight of the group for me. They've improved so much under Dubreuil/Lauzon! Wonderful sexy choreography.

It was amusing to see how many teams Igor and Marina had their hands on at the event. There appeared to be a contest over who could stand at the boards the most times. During practice, their respective entourages/co-coaches took up a mile stretch of the boards. But back to the skating... Zhiganshina/Gazsi's free dance is still one of my favorites of the season. No one could ever accuse them of not being 1000% committed to their zombie character.

Both Chock/Bates and the Shibutanis skated wonderfully, and I can't wrap my head around the fact that Ilinykh/Katsalapov received higher PCS than both teams. The Russians' Ghost free dance becomes more ridiculous with each performance. I hope in the post-Meryl & Charlie era that we'll see Chock/Bates and the Shibutanis battling for the national title and continuing to push each other. The haters can hate, but I love the pairing of Chock/Bates. I think they have great chemistry, and they can do both fun and romantic programs with ease. I'm excited about their future! I've liked Weaver/Poje's free dance a lot since I first saw it at Skate America. I couldn't identify the changes they made for Worlds, but I liked this version, too! Kaitlyn is such a rock star for coming back so quickly from injury.

Now for the top tier - Virtue/Moir were the first to skate in the final group. They skated their Carmen program better than they have all year, but it's still not my cup of tea. I much prefer Cappellini/Lanotte's Carmen. I like the romantic and subtly sultry style of C/L's program, and I'm so glad to see them skating with a lot of confidence now after some tough seasons.

Davis/White never cease to amaze me with how they always skate their best in the biggest moments. They did it yet again in London, putting every ounce of emotional and physical energy they had into the free dance. Their gliding face-to-face spirals make up one of my favorite moments ever in a skating program. And seeing Meryl and Charlie stand atop the podium in Canada was truly a special moment!

I was still too excited over Meryl and Charlie's victory to pay much attention to Bobrova/Soloviev and Pechalat/Bourzat's programs, so I don't know if the judging was fair there. If we have to have a Russian team on the podium (seems like that's a given heading into the Olympics), I'll gladly take B/S over I/K. B/S have made great strides this season, and I loved seeing how happy and excited Ekaterina was at the medal ceremony. It was really cute! 

2013 Worlds - Free Dance & Ladies Free Skate

I have a super early flight tomorrow morning so I'll write up my thoughts on the events later. Here are my photos in the meantime!

2013 Worlds - Saturday Dance Practice

It wouldn't be an event for me without an early morning dance practice! Arrived at the Budweiser Gardens shortly after eight and got to see all four groups. Everyone looked solid, though most teams didn't do much of their programs during the run-throughs. I saw Kaitlyn Weaver's new costume for the first time, and I liked the old one a lot better. This one is too much white. I thought the other one looked more statuesque and fit the program better. I liked Andrew's old shirt better, too. 

Here are my photos!

2013 Worlds - Men's Free Skate

It's really late and I have to get up early for dance practice so this will be quick. It's a shame Denis Ten isn't the champion because he had the most complete event of all the skaters. He had two outstanding performances. It's so great to see him putting it all together! It looks like the older guys are getting pushed down in the standings as Takahashi and Joubert both skated pretty well and were dropped. Max Aaron gave us a great display of technique. I'm hoping his strong finish here will inspire his coaches to get him more complex choreography next year. He has incredible speed and solid skating skills so I think he can definitely handle more than we saw in his programs this year.

Here are my photos from the event!

2013 Worlds - Pairs Free Skate

Never a dull moment in the pairs competition! The highlight of the early groups for me were the American pairs. Castelli/Shnapir had a great skate, and Scimeca/Knieram skated amazingly for being such a new team! I'm so excited for the potential of both of these teams.

I thought Moore-Towers/Moscovitch had the best performance of the night. They were absolutely in the zone and just flying around the rink. Pang/Tong's program was stunning and I'll miss their grace when they retire. Duhamel/Radford definitely looked nervous and were noticeabley slower to me than M-T/M. They still skated great, though, and gutted out all the elements. I love those SBS triple lutzes!

Savchenko/Szolkowy didn't have their best skate, but their skills can't be denied. I'm still in awe at their gutsy move of doing the throw triple Axel in the last seconds of the program. That was amazing. I thought it was pretty crappy of the crowd to boo Savchenko/Szolkowy's score because it was higher than Duhamel/Radford's. The Germans didn't deserve such a lack of respect. It's one thing to boo a score that you think is too low, but booing a skater's score that you think is too high? Not cool. Volosozhar/Trankov finally put it all together, and their jumps and throws were divine. Not a big fan of their program overall, but they're looking pretty darn strong for gold in Sochi.

Here are my photos from the event!