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allekha · 11 months

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Fun With Jump Arm Variations

When jumping, different skaters put their arms in different places, but generally they are pressed flat against the torso, especially on higher-revolution jumps. This compressed shape increases the skater’s rotational speed, which is important for attempting triples and quads.

But as anyone who has watched much skating has seen, you can jump with your arms in different positions, too. There are two main arm variations you will see in modern skating programs:

One arm above the head - these are nicknamed ‘tanos’ after Brian Boitano, who did not invent but did popularize the variation. Ones where the arm is bent a lot may be derisively nicknamed ‘helicopter tanos’, as some fans don’t like how they look. (Brian Boitano 1988 Olympics SP, Brian Orser 1988 Olympics SP, Petra Burka 1965 FS, Wendy Burge 1976 Olympics FS, Ekaterina Kurakova 2022 Euros FS)

Two arms above the head - these are nicknamed ‘rippons’ after Adam Rippon, who also did not invent them but popularized them when he started doing it on his lutz. (He did tanos on it for a while, but then started using both arms when he trained with Brian Orser, because he felt bad doing ‘tanos’ in front of Orser, who famously took silver behind Boitano at the Olympics.) (Adam Rippon 2016 GP France FS, Midori Ito 1988 Olympics SP, Ting Cui 2018 JGP Ostrava SP, Sihyeong Lee 2021 Nebelhorn FS)

However, there are also other arm variations. These are all rare nowadays, although if you watch older programs, you are more likely to spot a variation that’s not a tano or rippon. Ones I’ve seen include:

Hands on hips - these used to be much more popular back in the day but have fallen out of fashion. I would guess it’s because they slow down rotational speed too much, as every one I have seen is a double except this one by Michael Chack, but I don’t know for sure. (Jill Trenary 1990 Worlds FS, Michael Chack 1992 USNats FS, Rory Flack 1988 USNats SP, Tonia Kwiatkowski 1988 USNats SP, Midori Ito 1987 Worlds SP, Anna Kondrashova 1988 Olympics SP, Yuzuru Hanyu 2010 JPNats FS)

Helicopter arms - this one has been used as a warm-up by Yuzuru Hanyu, and I’ve spotted it in competitions a couple of times with single and double jumps (Rory Flack 1994 US Open Artistic Program, Yuzuru Hanyu 2012 Finlandia Trophy SP warmup)

Arms behind back - I’ve only seen this one performed by Jason Brown in his Riverdance program, where depending on the event he placed either one or both arms behind his back during the second jump of this combo (2013 SA FS, 2014 Nats FS)

Arm switching midair - I’ve only seen this one in this lovely axel variation by John Curry (1976 Olympic SP)

Hands by the head - I believe I may have seen this used by at least one other skater, but the only example I have at hand is this one by Nancy Kerrigan (1990 Goodwill Games SP)

Beginning in 2009, ‘varied position in the air’ became a positive GOE bullet point for jumps. This was because they are supposed to add to the difficulty of a jump, although I’ve seen arguments back and forth from skaters about how true that is for some arm positions (and even if which arm is raised makes a difference for tanos). Years later, they exploded in popularity, particularly in the women’s competition. The trend had its beginning around 2014 or so; the previous season, junior World medalists Evgenia Medvedeva and Serafima Sakhanovich were given programs constructed to include raised arms on a couple of jumps, which wasn’t too unusual, but in 2014, their programs contained many more of them. Medvedeva would go on to dominate the senior circuit for several years and notably used raised arms on most of her jumps during that time, which started the trend in earnest among other skaters.

This GOE bullet point was removed for the 2018-2019 season. But if arm variations no longer get that bit of GOE, why do we still see them so often? There are probably a few reasons:

Skaters who trained them for GOE a few years ago got used to doing them that way and don’t want to mess with their muscle memory

They can add to a program aesthetically

Skaters and their teams may still hope to impress the judges by using them

Skaters have said that rippons help straighten their jump axis

I’ve also seen speculation that rippons can be used to help muscle jumps using the upper body in some cases

I would also like to shout out arm variations on jump exits that aren’t the standard check-out position. These aren’t as common as mid-air variations nowadays and rarely get talked about as their own thing - probably in part because they were never a GOE bullet - but they can add difficulty to the exit as well as give a nice choreographic touch to a program. You can see a few in the above gifs, but here’s a few more:

(Petra Burka 1965 Worlds FS, Yuzuru Hanyu 2021 “White Nights” EX, Anett Pötzsch 1976 Olympics FS, Hana Mašková 1968 Worlds FS, Claudia Kristofics-Binder 1976 Olympics FS, Brian Boitano 1988 Olympics SP, Vladimir Kovalyov 1976 Olympics SP)

#figure skating #fskateedit #fs history #Yuzuru Hanyu #Midori Ito #Brian Orser #Brian Boitano #Jason Brown #John Curry #Adam Rippon #Rory Flack #Ekaterina Kurakova #gifs #I went kind of crazy on the gifs here #long post

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twistsandtwizzles · 11 months

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I Watched So You Don't Have To: Stars on Mars

You may have seen that Adam Rippon is one of the cast members on the new FOX reality show, Stars on Mars. I knew this information but had no plans to watch this show, until this week when I needed to turn something on tv that would take up 5% of my brain power or less. And this fit the brief exactly.

In case you are also mildly interested in what this weird show is about and what Adam is doing on it, but don't want to let it take up even 3% of your brain power, don't worry, I am here for you! Read on for a recap of Stars on Mars: Episode 1.

We open on William Shatner very dramatically telling us that twelve celebrities are going to participate in an “experiment” to find out if they can “survive life on Mars” (aka a month somewhere in Australia). The winner will earn the title of Brightest Star in the Galaxy and this made me laugh out loud because that’s it? They don’t even get any money? Just a title that is also found on a fourth grade science fair participation trophy?

Anyway, Shatner - who has very clearly not gone to Australia and is recording this somewhere in his house - tells us that this simulation will be 24 days long, and will show us which celebrities are the strongest, the brightest, the bravest, and who can handle the stress when the food runs out. We’re treated to a compilation of clips during this portion, then Shatner says, “This is: Starsssssss on Marssssssss” and the way I typed this quote does not do it justice.

We’re now introduced to the astronauts as they trudge across the surface of “Mars” into the “Hab” where they will be living. The first astronaut is Christopher Mintz-Plasse, aka McLovin’ from Superbad, and we cut to a talking head where Christopher says he’s been called McLovin for 16 years and is kind of tired of it; unfortunately for him it is what I will call him for the entirety of this recap.

We get a tour of the hab, which basically looks like every space movie you’ve ever seen, and we are introduced to the lady-voiced-AI thing that is going to be the main communication tool/voice-over element on this show. McLovin marvels that “a lot of money went into this” which, I’m not sure I agree, but okay.

Next in the hab: Ronda Rousey, “Champion Fighter” followed closely by Tom Schwartz from Vanderpump Rules who the VO tells us is “currently known for Scandavol.” Full disclosure that I have only ever seen five minutes of VPR so this man is a complete stranger to me - but I do live in the culture enough to know that his name is “Schwartz” and not “Tom.” Schwartz explains his show to McLovin, boiling it down to “people work in a bar and have sex with each other.” McLovin says, “Well, we’re not doing that here. I don’t think.”

Next up: Tallulah Willis, “Daughter of Bruce and Demi” and Adam Rippon, “Olympic Figure Skater” and the entire reason I’m even watching this show. Then Porsha Williams Guobadia, “Real Housewife” and another complete stranger to me (look, how can I find time for Bravo reality shows when I have to watch old figure skating programs on YouTube?); Tinashe, “R&B Recording Artist” who I know mostly as a regular Who? Weekly subject; Ariel Winter, “Award-Winning Actor from Modern Family” (she was the middle child); Marshawn Lynch & Richard Sherman, “Teammates and NFL Legends” who are introduced as a unit but it is unclear if they are playing as a team or not; and Lance Armstrong, “Cyclist” and look, I am not happy about his presence either.

Lance is greeted warmly by everyone in the room and Ariel gives a talking head geeking out about how Lance is a real astronaut. She makes the mistake of mentioning this to Porsha who does not appear to correct her. Unknown if Porsha was just trying not to embarrass Ariel, or if she has no idea who Lance Armstrong is either and thinks he could plausibly be an astronaut.

Shatner sends a message to the celebs explaining that every 48 hours a celebrity who is not “mission critical” will be “extracted” (he then helpfully clarifies that this just means “sent home”). He also explains that the “Base Commander” is the most powerful role in the hab as the commander is basically in charge of everything, and the commanders will be re-appointed every two days.

The celebs are instructed to select a Base Commander and we get our very first Adam Rippon Talking Head! Adam explains that everyone is figuring each other out and that no one wanted to be the first base commander. We cut to the celebs desperately pointing at each other and trying to peer pressure others into the role. Then they are informed that the Base Commander gets their own room, and Roger nominates Marshawn, who was worried about fitting into his bunk earlier. Marshawn accepts.

The first mission for the astronaut celebrities: to rescue their 12th crewmember who is trapped in a pod on the surface. Marshawn sends Lance and Ronda out for the rescue while the rest of the crew watches their progress via monitor. Adam excitedly says of the outdoor footage, “Oh my god, it looks like Mars,” and again, I’m not sure I agree, but I’m happy that he’s happy.

To no one’s surprise the rescue mission is successful and completely lacking in any kind of drama. Natasha Leggero, “Comedian,” is the final celebrity to join the hab.

Marshawn is instructed to divide the daily task list. He sends Porsha and Tallulah to sort the foods and rations (Lady Hab Voice pops up to note that there will be no resupply of the rations during their stay and I'm sure this will be a major issue later in the series).

After a few shots of people doing their assigned tasks we cut to Adam, finally, since he is the only part of the show I care about. He and Ariel are dusting “the patches” which are basically Mars-themed Scout badges. Adam Talking Heads that he assumes the patches are probably something they will earn on missions throughout the show. It is unclear if the show thinks this is some sort of amazingly smart deduction on Adam’s part or if it, like me, assumes that Adam has watched a reality competition show at least once in his life and simply took the very tiny step needed to reach this conclusion.

Adam tells Ariel that he actually loves cleaning and organizing, and she excitedly says she does too. Adam asks, with true joy in his eyes, if she likes folding things. She says laundry is her favorite. I do not understand these people.

We cut between some other small talk and talking heads. Marshawn and Lance argue about who is more of an athlete, and how Marshawn did not throw Lance’s doping in his face during this conversation I will truly never know.

Adam has clearly been tasked by production to explain the basics of this game in his talking heads, because he again tells us that they are “trying to figure each other out and learning to work together” since “that will be important the longer they stay in the game.”

A bunch of snippets of general “get to know you” convos: the group chats about how famous Tallulah’s parents are; Porsha and Natasha chat about their kids; Lance and Marshawn and Ronda chat about sports again; Lance feels weird about sharing a bathroom; Ariel admits to Porsha and Tinashe that she has confused Lance with Neil Armstrong. Then everyone goes to bed. Natasha says, “Goodnight honey,” to Adam and it makes sense those two would be fast friends.

An alarm goes off in the middle of the night and Shatner appears to tell them that “Martian Dust” is headed their way and has already knocked their comms satellite over. They need to go repair it, and if they do it they will earn a patch. Everyone seems totally wowed by this patch information so maybe we were supposed to think that Adam was a genius earlier.

Tallulah is chosen to be a mission specialist and is staying behind with Marshawn while everyone heads to the surface. “Let’s save this satellite!” Adam says. He looks great in this space suit.

Adam’s talking head is back with more general reality show basics, namely that even though they are stressed about this mission they have to focus and do a good job, because ultimately “the name of the game is that someone has to go home.”

The celebs walk out into a windstorm and Tallulah and Marshawn direct the crew in repairing the satellite. Adam says that “this is not what (he) signed up for” but Adam, I’m pretty sure it is.

Once again this mission is successful and not all that dramatic, even as all the celebs tell us how stressed they all are and how hard this was. (Assembling an Ikea dresser looks far more difficult than this satellite repair job.) Natasha does say at one point that she was trying to stay out of the way in the “loser area” along with McLovin and Adam.

McLovin says he thinks they all would have died if it was really Mars, and I suppose this statement is technically true but also it’s kind of like when I cut through an empty parking lot after my driver’s test and the examiner said, “if there were cars here you’d be running them over right now.” I would not have done that if there were cars there?? And these people would not be asked to repair a satellite on actual Mars. Anyway.

Marshawn and Tallulah are told to identify the three astronauts least critical to mission success. This is revealed by Marshawn calling the “Mission Critical” celebrities one-by-one back into the hab and handing them - hold onto your hats because none of us saw this prize coming - a patch.

The three least mission critical celebrities: Adam, McLovin, and Schwartz. McLovin says, “aw man, the three fragile white boys!” as they give each other a group hug. They are then each asked to explain to the Mission Critical celebs why they should stick around.

McLovin says he didn’t participate in the mission because he was removing himself from the situation since there were too many people trying to do the job.

Adam says he’s mission critical because he’s one of the hottest people there and “I think that’s important for any kind of challenge that we do. I’m just being honest.” This earns a big laugh and applause from the already-safe crew, and someone says, “He’s right!” LOL.

Schwartz reminds them all that he was the one that actually made a major repair on the satellite and the group immediately says, “oh yeah” and lets him into the hab. He gives Adam a big hug and assures him, “You are very hot.”

So that leaves Adam and McLovin as our bottom two. The group decides that Adam is more mission critical than McLovin, which means our favorite Olympic-figure-skater-turned-astronaut gets let back into the hab, and that I have to watch this show for another week.

McLovin wanders to the extraction point and gives an exit interview from the suddenly calm Mars surface without his space helmet on, and it’s hilarious how soon after elimination the faux-Mars premise is dropped.

Tune in next week (or don’t) for some arguing and more “space” adventures that appear to include a fire in the hab and something to do with a bunch of water on the Mars surface that I have many questions about! The previews indicate that Adam will eventually get a headset to lead a mission at some point, so we'll how that goes. See you next time.

#adam rippon #stars on mars #recaps

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