A girly look at figure skating

So, several days after the fact, I finally sat down and watched the women's figure skating finals. I'd tried, really and truly tried, not to know the results ahead of time. I had plans Thursday night, and was sitting in a bar having dinner, and had even managed NOT to be sitting in line of sight of the several TVs that had the Olympics on. So what does ESPN do? Yeah, post the results. Before NBC had even finished airing them, mind you. Whatever, I say. Just knowing the conclusion doens't matter. I still don't know what happened.

So, Friday morning, I walk to the subway, dodging the folks who stand at the entrance to the station, handing out free newspapers. I see skaters on the front pages, and fiercely look away. Looking down, other folks' papers litter the ground, and I look back up, trying to remain spoiler-free.

I'm not going to work, but rather to Nerd Prom, as it were. Or Junior Prom. On the bus crosstown to the convention center, my poor excuse for a limo, even with my headphones in and music playing, I can still hear the guy sitting next to me, louding recapping the figure skating finals to his friend on the phone. I turn my music up, to no avail. Bugger.

ComicCon was, well, useful, I suppose. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with people from Marvel, DC, Del Rey Manga, Tokyopop, and licensing folks from Pocket Books and HarperCollins. Grabbed a couple of freebies, but nothing really cool. Probably spent more money than I should have on the one thing I did buy, but it was the one thing I was hoping to buy, so I can't exactly consider it an impulse purchase. And it will be appreciated, certainly. Spoke to a couple of authors, and handed out my card. Went to a panel discussion on copyright, and defamation, and libel, and fair use, and was mostly reassured that my intent to frame "HtDaS" around my playing of City of Heroes shouldn't be in violation of anyone's rights. As long as I'm careful about what I write about. And yes, as long as I change some names.

Last night, we had the guys over in the apartment for geekfest, and in celebration of the roomie's birthday, our GM killed him. But then gave us an opportunity to bring him back to life, so you can't say he's not a giver. Went out for a drink afterwards, then came home and went to sleep.

Today, as I said, I FINALLY watched the figure skating finals. And I gotta say, DVR is definitely the way to watch. Oh NBC, you want to show me a rosy-hued portrait of a skater? Yeah, I don't care. Fast forward. Want to try to distract me with albeit neat aerial skiing? No way. Zip, zip, zip.

Now (and if you haven't watched the figure skating finals, feel free to look away), I have to say I'm not seeing Sasha Cohen's silver medal as a huge disappointment. I mean, how can you not be happy for Japan's Arakawa, who not only won her country's first medal in these games, but Japan's first Olympic Gold in figureskating EVER? I mena, that's just awesome! I didn't love her costumes, certainly, but she skated beautifully, and deserved to win. And I don't see how we can turn a silver medal into a consolation prize. Cohen fell down twice, and still medaled. That's awesome. And the US had three skaters in the top 7. Though I have to admit I don't care one way or another about Slutskaya, aside from teeheeing about her unfortunate name. And NBC's commentators' whole "It'll be a bittersweet reunion with her mother back in Moscow," was just stupid. Hello?! It's an OLYMPIC medal! At 27! Years past when most skaters retire.

The performance I loved though, and I'm going to kick myself for not remembering her name, was the first Italian who skated. Monica something-or-other, I think. She was like 20-somethingth coming into the long program, barely making the cut, but she was just so goddamn happy to be there, and so very pleased with her performance, even if it was scored 40 points below the leaders, that yes, I will admit it, I got a little teary-eyed. Representing her country on home ice... that's the spirit of the Olympics right there, folks.

Anyway, I'll be looking forward to the big gala exhibition, to see everyone come out and just skate for fun.