Golden Thoughts

I'm going to admit that the only sport I've ever cared about in the Olympics is figure skating. I challenge all the nay-sayers who say it's not a sport to get out there and do a triple lutz and triple toe loop.

But regardless of sport, I have to say I do love the idea behind the Olympics--fight your country's battles in frilly, skin-tight dresses. Okay, so that's figure skating again, but the same idea applies to them all (just with different costumes): make sport, not war.

It made me so happy to see Kim Yu-Na and Joannie Rochette win even though neither are from my country. Mao Asada is a beautiful skater, but she didn't try to hide her disappointment, so it was a little harder to feel as good for her. What kind of person pouts after winning a silver medal? Of course, I considered the posibility that she's going to get a lot of critisism when she gets home. I certainly hope they don't abuse the poor girl, but I know the Asian drive for excellence can be quite hard-edged, so I don't completely judge her reaction. It was just easier to feel happy for the other two because they were clearly happy, even if Rochette's triumph is bittersweet.

But commentary aside, I think the most important message here is Asian chicks rule! Yeah, and French-Canadian ones too. So as a half-Asain girl who speaks French, I'm quite pleased with the results. Clearly, even though the US didn't win, I'm on the right team.

Beautiful Figures

In honor of the Olympics I thought I'd honor Johnny Weir as my favorite current male figure skater ("current" because Scott Hamilton's probably my favorite of all time. Yay, backflips!). The above video is fun to watch, but I first fell in love with his style during a much more traditional performance that I can't presently recall. He's easily the most attractive man on the ice. Before anyone else comments, I'm well aware that his personality would lead to some obvious assumptions, but he doesn't like speculation on his sexuality, so out of respect, I'll just say that whoever's with him is a lucky person. I just read an excellent article about people's speculations about Weir and men like him. All that really matters to me (since I'm not likely to have a chance at him either way) is that he's a beautiful man and a beautiful skater.

EDIT: The clip is now in Korean because the English one was taken down. But it also made me notice a fascinating difference between the two. I actually watched the Korean one again after having watched the English one (several times) and I suspect the way both the countries video edit the performance says a lot about their different attitudes towards Johnny's sexuality. Forgive me, Johnny (yeah right, like he's reading this), but if you are reading this isn't me speculating on your sexuality so much as it's an observation about the magic of video editing. Take the same performance, but the angles in the English one highlighted sillier aspects of the performance while the Korean one highlights sexy ones. I think it's because, in Asia, they have a very different definition of "appropriate" male behavior, and while Johnny is still considered a little out there, he's actually quite a bit closer to at least one example of an Asian ideal sex symbol.

EDIT2: Okay, here's the English performance for now (until they take this one down) so you can compare the two.