Pottermore so far

I signed up for Pottermore a couple of weeks ago, when it opened for the general public, and as ThrestralPotion11131 have now slowly made my way through the process of the first book, getting Sorted into Ravenclaw, which was definitely appropriate, and getting a spruce wand, which was definitely not(my wand is ill-matched with nervous natures?  Really?).  So far I’ve enjoyed all the artwork, both for the site; it really is very high-quality and well done, and even the fanart(I’m tempted to dig out some of my own old drawings), but especially the treasure hunt for new information about the universe.  Though a couple of times I’ve failed to find it and had to click the links at the end of the each chapter, which makes me grateful that ability is there.  But really, it has been fun, tracking down the right objects and even the chocolate frog cards to click.  I was especially impressed with Minerva McGonagall’s backstory; I hadn’t thought Rowling would be that daring on such a website, to tell such a tale of such an unhappy marriage.

I haven’t gone for the spellcasting & potion making so much, though.  Partly because I’ve proved hopeless at the former so far; it took me ages to get through the third floor door(and I was then very put out when there wasn’t so much as a galleon to collect!), and the latter felt more like a hassle than anything else, though I haven’t tried brewing anything for real yet; I bought some ingredients but then decided to wait until I’ve picked a few more up.  Those I think will be much more appealing to the site’s younger users.  Or maybe just those users that are used to playing computer/video games.  On the other hand, I finally solved Snape’s potion puzzle myself(though I checked my work against Hermione’s before clicking on anything).

Next, I assume, should come Lockhart’s backstory, but I’m hoping for more info about the Founders.

I should go to FSU daily just to check the Russian thread

As I have toyed the with the idea of returning with an audio podcast version of This Week in Figure Skating the Sunday after the Caps finish their season, I have begun each week with gathering the news again, until sometime in the second half of the week said team makes their season certain to last beyond the coming Saturday(against the Rangers they may very well lose the first three games, then win next Saturday to give me another week!).  Though quite frankly, the rush of Russian news is giving me a headache.  Bobrova & Soloviev to Zhulin?!  Sinitsina & Zhiganshin reportedly moving to Samuelson & Bates’ old coaches, except the source of that news is unreliable?  Riazanova & Tkachenko getting choreography from Shilband and working regularly with them?  Mishin’s students except Plushenko getting choreography from David Wilson?!  In fact, are any of the big Russian skaters going to get choreography from within the country?(Shilband doesn’t count). For all the Russian reporters claim the North Americans are bringing ice dancing down, the skaters are following their lead.

And wow, would Japan actually confer on Mervin Tran something they’ve never done for anyone?  Yes, the country is skating-mad, but the implications of giving him citizenship…if he takes it, of course.  This isn’t like with Yuko Kavaguti, where she’d been living in Russia for years; he’s still in Canada, and would have to become an alien in his own country.  Meanwhile, taking a wait and see approach on this whole Yuzuru Hanyu to Brian Orser thing; I like them both, but not sure if I’ll like them together.

Unfortunately the split of Charlotte Litchman & Dean Copely isn’t much of a surprise, but who’s left in the lower U.S. ranks right now?  I’m not even sure we’ve heard of any new teams either, though with the number of new single ice dancers now floating around they probably will manifest.

Up North, shamelessly looking forward to Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier’s Mary Poppins SD, while sad to lose Battle of the Blades.  Hope some other network picks it up.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 14, Week 6

The problem with these themed weeks, and having guest singers both nights, is that there’s a lot of danger of it become about the music stars, and not about the dancing, and that isn’t good.  And that definitely happened last night.  When it comes down to it, we did not tune in to sit through Smokey Robinson or the Temptations stand there and sing for 15 seconds before we get our dancing, especially not for every single song.  Making us sit through the four annoying white dudes covering all the songs was even worse; at least the actual Motown singers are people who’ve earned the right to be featured.

Though choreographing genius that he is, Derek found a way to work with it:

Adore her dress too, but that’s another story. Real pity with the mistakes, but it’s all so delightful you barely care. Same went for Gladys & Tristan, for whom all the showcasing of Motown was actually appropriate, what with it being her history, and I suspect that this week’s number, when all is said and done, with be considered the best of her dances. Making the marathon themed was a creative way to bring it back, too. And while the top couple won it as is usual for the marathon, some of the early eliminations were pretty surprising. Also really not good for Roshon & Chelsie; between that and their rumba issues, good bet they’re in the dance duel this week. They should count themselves lucky there is a dance duel, though, since there’s a pretty good chance they’ll win it. I don’t envy whoever gets stuck in it with them.

Meanwhile, is Len ever going to give anyone a 10? One supposes the overall rise in quality this season has sent his standards up, but he has to sometime…right?

World Team Trophy

Thanks to the ISU’s free stream I was, by going to bed a little early at night, able to watch the whole thing, except for the pairs short and half the free dance, which I accidentally slept through, and get tweets from everyone(except those unfortunates in Korea, and, ironically enough, Japan, who apparently had to wait on delayed TV coverage).  Just a few thoughts:

Mainly, what is with all the Canada hate?  Yes, Patrick Chan is annoying, and yes, it was nice to see some other guy win for once.  But why hold his against his countrymen the way everyone seems to be doing?  Seriously, Scott Moir, coming off a disappointing performance at an event  that didn’t serve him and Tessa well in 2009 either, makes one little off quip about not liking the WTT, and everyone reacts like he’s threatened Michelle Kwan or something!  Would, say, Nathalie & Fabian gotten such hate had they suffered the misfortune and he made the remark?  I highly doubt it.  And tarring Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford with the same brush?  And , leave the two ladies alone.  Really…just leave them alone.

Though I do admit, I was rather befuddled at the end by Canada winning the bronze, since the points managed to complete confuse me.  But I’m sure it all makes sense, and it’s not like you can argue with any of the placements themselves.  On the contrary, I think there’s a good argument Duhamel & Radford should’ve finished first in the pairs; they might not have been clean but neither were Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov(I wonder if the judges even held them up a little because the Russians were having such trouble).  If France had wanted the bronze, they shouldn’t have had their successful ladies’ skater from the short program fall four times!  Though there’s an argument Meite’s long program was the highlight of that segment.

And yeah, the displays of team spirit were fun, from the French conga lines to the Italians in striped kimonos(where did they get those?) to Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy showing up to support all six pairs(makes you wish Germany had a shot to make it at some point.  If Zhiganshina & Gaszi can just take it up a little more and some young man could break out…maybe it’s just possible.  China qualified in 2009, after all).  If we can have that at Worlds and Olympics, I think fans will take the team event much better than they currently imply they will.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 14, Week 5

So the show was going along, and most of the couples were doing fairly well, kind of thinking maybe Katherine & Mark should’ve gotten a perfect 30 but oh well, and it looked like Derek was having fun(or maybe just aiming to land the encore dance). I was actually getting distracted by that whole mess with the Caps, as well as reading on FSU that Denney & Coughlin may be doing Phantom of the Opera next year(which says all anybody needs to know about *that* team).  And then this happened:

You see this with Cheryl sometimes, if she gets the right kind of sexy partner. But if we thought she and Gilles Marini were good, well, I don’t think any woman watching this could do so without feeling at least a little faint at the end. There have been very few “bad” dances this season, but this might be the first truly great one. Unfortunately, it seems Len just wasn’t in the mood to give a 10 this week.
Was a little nervous for Roshon the following night, but it seems he had enough fans to rally when he certainly deserved to be kept high, and then when the only two couples within five points of them managed to keep out of the bottom two as well, there wasn’t much poor Gavin & Karina could do. One suspects even if there hadn’t been the duel they still would’ve been the ones going home, though, and it least it let them go out on a very respectable note.

Met Opera Broadcasts: Manon & La Traviata

It was arguably a little risky for the Met, broadcasting two tragic operas about two fallen women, both advertised on the star power of their prima donna, only a week apart from each other; they broadcast Jules Massenet’s Manon last weekend and La Traviata this weekend.  Though as characters Manon & Violetta are actually pretty different, and the productions were almost opposite in approaches.

Scattered skating thoughts

Much news this week, and I was distracted by the playoffs, but at this moment in time I prefer to be distracted from the the playoffs, so…

Dancing With the Stars, Season 14, Week 4

So it’s Rock Week, and personally, I think the whole motif with the big hair and ballroom revamping overdoes it a bit.  And when this year we were treated to a shot of Harold Wheeler in KISS makeup, I especially thought so!  Some may ask why in the middle of all this rocking we had a pair Viennese Waltzing to an American Idol winner, but I think the producers realized we needed the break.

Roshon & Chelsea in fact arguably lucked out avoiding the paso doble and tango when everyone else had to do them in heavy leather, except William and Cheryl maybe, and they had their own difficulties anyway.  And with that happening it’s not that surprising the scores went down a bit; the paso’s considered one of the hardest dances, to the point that yes, sometimes even the pro will mess up the end of the routine, and the tango isn’t easy either.  Though Donald & Peta were an obvious exception to such peril; as Brooke noted, football players tend to do well with the paso doble, despite the difficulty, because it suits their normal habits so well:

At least one man was in his element tonight.

 

And Maria and Derek got off pretty lucky too, but really, that’s just Derek.  He’ll always manage that somehow or other.

A bit more divide in the scores now, and we’ll have to see at the lower end if being a point behind everyone else will be fatal for Gladys.  Meanwhile, I hope Melissa’s okay…

And because it really should be linked to

Anna Trebunskaya & Jonathan Roberts

I sometimes think it would be nice if we could drop the “dancing with celebrities” format for a season, the way they’ve done with Ice Age in Russia, and just have a whole season’s worth of pros dancing, maybe round robining partners the way they’ve been doing on Ice Age.

Yikes!

Until the final minute of tonight’s show, this post actually was going to get delayed until tomorrow, so I could get YouTube of Anna and Jonathan capping off “Personal Stories” week in perfect fashion with their own tribute tonight.  But now to commemorate their going way too early, I’ve got to put her up with her celebrity partner instead:

One of the most joyous sambas this show has seen(though in the fashion of this season, was completely matched in joy by Roshon and Chelsea!) and getting straight 8s in week 3. Most seasons the very idea of that not being enough to get a couple to week four would be absurd, but, well, this is not most seasons. Though I’m not entirely sure the whole “Personal Stories” thing got conveyed as well as it did in seasons past; there were a couple of dances that seemed only tangentially related to the story they were supposed to tell. And then there were cases where the song itself was more important than anything else, but at least one of those wrecked it by the folly of turning “Material Girl” into a rumba. “Material Girl” goes weird when it’s turned into a rumba. Granted, the rumba performed was wonderfully danced and deliciously sexy, but all the same, “Material Girl” should probably not be done as a rumba. Those dances that kept the feel of the song and artist(Roshon and Chelsea again!) worked far better.