Patrick Uber Thread - road to Sochi

[naan]

Thanks VarBar. I hope Patrick's new EX is different from Kulik's and Kurt's hat program. I also hope Patrick will get a new costume for this hat program. IMO, I didn't like this costume.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8352/8...1d5740b7_b.jpg
I love this pix. The four Champs and they all look great and such wonderful comradeship. Would be nice if this is a poster with the Champs' autographs.

I agree with you about the costume. Tess, why don't you give him an advice? He's so cute though.
What a great pix of 4 Kings!

[luckiest1]

Love the 4 champs picture. I used to be an Elvis fan, before he started sounding so bitter about the sport. He has redeemed himself a bit lately for me. I liked Patrick's new hat exhibition program, it was quite well done. But I really love his Kingdom Come program. Perhaps not something that gets the audience going, but it's gorgeous. I am so glad I attended Celebration On Ice! It's such a shame it wasn't televised.

[Emdee]

Love the picture as well.

Happy birthday Patrick. All the best in 2013. Good health, success and happiness and of course perfect jumps!

[spikydurian]

Love the 4 champs picture. I used to be an Elvis fan, before he started sounding so bitter about the sport. He has redeemed himself a bit lately for me. I liked Patrick's new hat exhibition program, it was quite well done. But I really love his Kingdom Come program. Perhaps not something that gets the audience going, but it's gorgeous. I am so glad I attended Celebration On Ice! It's such a shame it wasn't televised.

It's the New Year coming... let's forgive and give everyone a hug. Maybe, Elvis was misinterpreted ... you know how the press can manipulate the outcome by printing some and not all of what is being said thereby throwing the whole interview out of context. It happened to Patrick too.

Yes, luckiest1. TKC shows off Patrick's edges and smooth skating and as the song itself is not a dramatic or upbeat piece of song/music, it takes time to grow on the audience. I can't wait to see the vid download of his hat Ex ... most likely at the Canadian Nationals.

I just noticed that Patrick, Elvis and Jeff had a great set of teeth (can't see Kurt's). And was that Patrick's hand .... seem to be trying to tickle Jeff's neck....

Emdee, nice of you to remember Patrick's birthday and sending him good wishes before you go away on your beach and sunshine holiday. Enjoy!

[luckiest1]

Yes, forgive and hug works for me. Still love Elvis' skating, and was so happy with his Christmas themed program at COI. So nice for me to see my old fave (Elvis) and my new fave (Patrick) skating together! Now I am counting down the days until the Canadians in Mississauga.

[PCFan]

Patrick's new Ex.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw-wmjNZpzE

[spikydurian]

Happy birthday to Patrick. Hope he has lots of fun on his special day.

Thanks PCFan. Lucky those who attended the COI got to see his new Ex first.

Article on Buttle and here's an extract regarding Patrick's SP and Ex. It is not easy to change an Ex into an SP but I think Buttle has done a great job. This program, and as Buttle has rightly pointed out, managed to show case Patrick's beautiful edges and incredibly fast and powerful yet seemingly light and easy skating skills.

"As a choreographer, I love what I do, but it's not very often that you get to work with such talented skaters. I admire Patrick's skating so much. They wanted something sort of Chopin, classical. For me, he has such raw power and purity to his skating, I felt we should do something a little more dramatic. A Chopin can be fluid and not really go anywhere dramatically. I found a piece to (Russian composer) Rachmaninoff. I thought it was very much him, something he hadn't really done before. He's known for being so powerful and packing his programs so much. I wanted to show the maturity of his skating and keep it simple. Sometimes sustaining a single movement for a long period of time can be just as effective."

They turned it into the competitive short program Chan is using in an effort to win his third consecutive world title. It's not always an easy task. With exhibition programs, there are few rules and no time limits. The competitive short is 2 minutes and 50 seconds with required elements.

"It sometimes sort of a letdown to do a competitive program from exhibition because it'll never have the same integrity. But we managed with Patrick. It takes him one crosscut to get to full speed, he's so powerful. I would do the preparation for his quad. I would do three crosscuts. Then I asked him to do it. After one crosscut he was already where I had gotten in three crosscuts. I was like, okay, we're only going to do one or two crosscuts then. It's just incredible. We managed to maintain the integrity of the exhibition program which I was very happy about.

[Sylvia]

The Buttle article excerpt quoted above is from the Sudbury Star: http://www.thesudburystar.com/2012/1...ver-on-the-ice

Hope Patrick enjoys his 22nd birthday tomorrow!

[luckiest1]

I always remember Patrick's birthday. He is exactly 6 months older than my youngest son. Not to mention it's New Years Eve...hope he has a great one! Thanks for that youtube link to the new hat exhibition program, PCFan!

[PCFan]

Happy Birthday Patrick! I can't wait to see you in the New Year.

[The Accordion]

Happy Birthday PChiddy!

[VarBar]

I wish Patrick on his 22nd Birthday to have a New Year full of accomplishments in his personal life and his skating career. And come up with a new quad in his free skate any time soon.

"It sometimes sort of a letdown to do a competitive program from exhibition because it'll never have the same integrity. But we managed with Patrick. It takes him one crosscut to get to full speed, he's so powerful. I would do the preparation for his quad. I would do three crosscuts. Then I asked him to do it. After one crosscut he was already where I had gotten in three crosscuts. I was like, okay, we're only going to do one or two crosscuts then. It's just incredible. We managed to maintain the integrity of the exhibition program which I was very happy about.

Elegy as a competitive program started to make sense to me at the Grand Prix Final and I hope Patrick will get to skate it cleanly so that he can do full justice to Jeffrey's beautiful choreography.

Thank you for the links, PCFan and Sylvia.

[luckiest1]

Anyone else starting to get excited for Canadians?

[professordeb]

Anyone else starting to get excited for Canadians?

I have been for the past two weeks. I am in countdown mode til I leave. In my case, that's 10 more sleeps including tonight!

[clarie]

I even broke down and subscribed to Skatebuzz to view.......I paid so I hope it works. Looking forward to it. It's the competition I enjoy the most, I guess because of the least amount of stress involved

[spikydurian]

Anyone else starting to get excited for Canadians?

I am, luckiest1! But I won't be able to watch the live streaming (if any) cos' I will be going away for holidays from this weekend onwards. So ... please download the vids and report here. I will check if I can get hold of wi-fi. Thanks.

I even broke down and subscribed to Skatebuzz to view.......I paid so I hope it works. Looking forward to it. It's the competition I enjoy the most, I guess because of the least amount of stress involved .

I know what you mean, and I agree. I subscribed to IceNetwork before but couldn't get the live streaming. Don't bother with any subscriptions anymore lest this happens again. Sorry, hope this didn't worry you, Clarie. If Skatebuzz is local, you can complain to the local consumer association if it doesn't work.

Here's a Skate Canada vid practice of Ex of Patrick with other skaters. Looks like the boys were having so much fun. I think Blade and Amodio loves dancing judging from this vid.

All the best Patrick for this coming weekend. Skate your best.

[clarie]

I subscribed and paid to view icenetwork, and was geoblocked, but couldn't get my $ back. So we'll see if this one is any different. I'm still nervous for Patrick and his risky coaching situation. He seems to have regressed technically. Please correct me if you think I'm wrong (it might be reassuring ). I want to see him skate 2 perfect programs.

[luckiest1]

I'm nervous for Worlds, but this week should not be much pressure for Patrick (other than the media which will be in his face 24/7). Thanks for that SC gala video! That is always my favourite part of any live skating event I attend. The skaters have so much fun! I'm glad they have let fans in in recent years. I remember when they didn't.

[jl22aries]

I also love the fanvids of gala/practices/behind the scenes. I'll brave my motion sickness to watch an hours worth of these vids if only to see how wonderful the camaraderie and friendships are between the skaters. It's unbelievably consoling amidst these forums, if only we could take the skaters' leads. Love what a goofball Patrick is in these vids.

[luckiest1]

Patrick tweeted (instagramed?) pictures from a Hawaiian luau last night. I sure hope that doesn't mean he's currently in Hawaii!