- Ditched work early, came home at around 9:15 p.m. Was nearly blown away from the insane snow and wind. Did the Korean mention New York weather sucks?
- Damn near had a heart attack to find the DVR was not working. Fortunately, regular TV worked, and figure skating did not happen yet. In fact, it would not happen for more than an hour.
- Instead of watching Nordic Combined again, the Korean opts for California v. Arizona basketball on ESPN while having dinner. Menu: kimchi jjigae and pajeon, courtesy again from the Korean Mother.
- Bears own the Cats. Go Bears! Jerome Randle is a stud. Too bad we will be killed the moment we run into any team with interior size in the Tourney.
- Flip the channel right on time for figure skating. Time to get nervous.
- This is rare. NBC seems to know that Kim Yu-Na vs. Mao Asada is a big freakin' deal. The introduction plays this up to the max, showing cross-clips of Yu-Na and Asada and repeatedly mentioning how significant the "rivalry" is between Japan and Korea. The Korean is not sure if "rivalry" is the right term. Cal-Stanfurd is a rivalry. Kobe-LeBron is a rivalry. Korea-Japan... that's something else, whatever it is.
- A lady with a super long last name from Georgia takes the ice. Proceeds to fall four times during the show. Slightly comforted by the fact that Yu-Na probably won't be this bad.
- Shit. Did the Korean just jinx Yu-Na? Unthink! Unthink!
- Mao looks determined during warm-up. Yu-Na looks relaxed. Don't know which one is the good sign.
- Rachel Flatt takes the ice. Seems to do everything well. Somehow could not buy into her facial expression that was anything other than smiles.
- Apparently Flatt is going to Stanfurd. No wonder the facial expression is terrible.
- Ooh, Flatt got her jumps downgraded and does not even lead with better skaters ahead of her. Not good. Shouldn't have gone to Stanfurd.
- Ando Miki comes on with a hideous ancient Egyptian-themed dress. Half-expected the fashion police would swoop in on a Zamboni. Rare feat to be offensive with a costume that belongs to people who no longer exist.
- There is no energy in Ando's performance. The Korean thought maybe he was missing something, but the announcers immediately say that Ando is just "going through the motions." Well then.
- Yu-Na comes on. Apparently her pre-show routine includes cleaning boogers -- she did the same before the short program as well. Further proves that pretty girls can do basically anything in public and get away with it.
- Again, just don't fall. Please.
- The dominance of Yu-Na is really obvious. She goes into her jumps so fast that the entire routine appears much more natural. She also has the perfect physique with long limbs.
- Yes! No falling! Yu-Na is happy with herself, and the announcers are practically unconscious with praise. Now, the score...
- HOLY CRAP!! 150.06!!!!! 228.56 OVERALL!!!! EVEN YU-NA CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! IT'S ALL OVER!!!!
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- The Korean Mother: "She needs to play within herself and just do the best she can instead of trying to do more than that."
- Everything about Mao at this moment is about intensity. Music, dress, facial expression, everything. Even her smile looks like it could kill someone.
- Triple axel, and another one. Damn amazing, no matter how many times the Korean sees it.
- Disaster! Mao's skate gets caught in the ice, and she can't jump the way she intended to. Now it's really over.
- Mao waits for her score. The graphic says: "154.79 to lead." It looks ridiculous, as if someone told the Korean: "With only $ 59 billion, you will be richer than Bill Gates."
- Yu-Na leads Mao by TWENTY-THREE POINTS. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.
- Joannie Rochette's turn. Don't remember anything about this. Still delirious from TWENTY-THREE POINTS.
- Mirai Nagasu comes on. Again with the single-lines-for-eyes smile, but now a little scary how she could go there from a look of serious intensity in an instant, on command.
- Nagasu has some of the qualities that make Yu-Na great. Smooth, artistic, a little bit of magnetism. She finishes fourth, and looks happy. She will be great in Sochi. U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
- It's official, Yu-Na is the champion. Tears of joy from Yu-Na. High-five between the Korean and the Korean Mother. The Korean Fiancee's victory text message: "228.56= Gold medal for Yu-Na Kim. I've never been so happy to be a Kim!!!!"
- Medal ceremony. Rochette looks happy. Mao looks pissed. Looked like she did not even want to touch Yu-Na when they hugged.
- Aegukga, until East Sea and Mt. Baekdu dries and wears down flat. Flags raised, Taegukki on top. Winning feels so great.
- Congratulations Yu-Na, and thank you. You did all of us proud.
Got a question or comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Posts
"Mirai Nagasu comes on. Again with the single-lines-for-eyes smile, but now a little scary how she could go there from a look of serious intensity in an instant, on command."
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the EXACT same thing about how she SMILED and was like SERIOUS. I was like WHOA. SCARY. HAHAHA.
My night:
ReplyDelete1. Last minute offer to attend the Cal vs Ariz game from an employee. Try to rush out of work at 4:15pm (left at 4:25) to meet at a bar near campus.
2. Bridge traffic horrible but get to bar at 5:20pm to have a pint of beer.
3. Walk to stadium and watch Cal kill the Wildcats. Woohoo!
4. Come home and once again bitch about NBC not airing the Olympics live (or close to it) even though I live in the same time zone.
5. Figure skating finally! But, very tired. Eyes closing on me despite all efforts to stay awake.
6. Succumb to sleep in the middle of Ando's skate and wake up 6 minutes later just as Yuna finished her routine. UGH!!!!
great coverage, now what about the short track coverage? :-D
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Mirai Nagasu sort of look like Pucca? She's a Korean cartoon character who looks like this: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/03/01-07/pucca.jpg
ReplyDeleteI also thought Kwak Min-Jung did pretty well. A lot better than what I expected, anyway, though I'm skeptical of whether she'll really become the next Yu-Na.
BTW: The Nordic Combined you didn't watch was won by Billy Demong, U.S.A., with Spillane getting the silver.
ReplyDeleteThis is slightly topical... Bill Demong is half Korean.
Salieri/Charles Barkley. . . . .
ReplyDeleteOh god, Korean. Stop it.
You're making my sides hurt.
Don't remember anything about Rochette? She's only the most amazing story of the whole games. Her Mom died last week suddenly in Vancouver before watching her skate? Not ringing any bells? Wow NBC must really blow.
ReplyDeleteThis might be overly picky, but isn't her name 김연아? Wouldn't that be Yun-a, then? Or did I miss a decision she made about being 윤아 in the West?
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine the craziness in Korea right now. While I was there, I lived in 군포시 (the city of Gunpo), where she's from; this was two years ago now and even then they had giant pictures of her all along the fences that keep the public off the metro tracks. I wonder what else they'll do to celebrate her gold medal? Maybe giant banners on all the apartment buildings?
Yu-na is a triple threat of figure skating. Possessing beauty, power, and grace, she is hard to beat. Ando did seem dazed and confused on the podium that night. Looking fore ward to the championship in Turin next month, I'm sure it will be hyped up as a rematch of "Kim & Ando" by the media.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuIrxCakGhM
Annmarie: I'm not sure why "연이=Yeon-ah" became "유나=Yu-na".
My guess is that it was probably more palatable to the western ears.
Clearly Kim (or her mom, agent, marketing firm, etc.) decided that the average Western dumbshit would look at "Yeon-a" and go "Huh? Yee-own-ah?" So they decided if we were going to mispronounce the name anyway, they might as well spell it as simply as possible.
ReplyDeleteHow about Yawn-a instead of Yu-na. I believe Yawn-a, closely resembles her real name.
ReplyDeleteDude... "Yawn"-a? Are you serious?
ReplyDeleteI could just imagine the "Yawn..."s skating is making me sleepy" jokes...LOL
Yeon-ah is probaly the closest to the true Korean pronuciation... sound it out.
Drop the spelling issue already. It's not like Park(팕?) is simiar to 박 anyway.
ReplyDeleteThat's true about Billy Demong being Korean. Her mother was my music teacher when I was a kid, and she is half Korean. Look here: http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/527499/Helen-Demong--an-Adirondack-woman-who-opens-doors.html?nav=5048. So he's not half Korean, he's a quarter Korean.
ReplyDelete