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There is a taping today. Needless to say, Alexei is being presented with many birthday flowers!

From Red Metallik of the Ice Age forum:

Alexei and Valeria will be competing against Slutskaya and Taranda.

The theme is "music from the cinema." Same judges as last time (I think).


From the Quiet Haven forum from TsvetocheG and Tamrico:

Alexei was given many bouquets, and I got the impression they were able to deliver them personally.

Alexei and Valeria are skating to something from "Pirates of the Caribbean" - Alexei plays the Jack Sparrow character. I think they've just practiced and haven't performed their program yet for the judges.

More later!

Laurie

Video from Tamriko of today's taping:

Alexei/Valeria - Pirates of the Caribbean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLEE0QP5aEU&feature=channel_page

Interview with Alexei and Valeria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAQpVAU9nEM&feature=channel_page

Not sure what this is, but has something to do with Alexei
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAqFILiC7k0&feature=channel_page

Slutskaya/Taranda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hwsMOuHO7c&feature=channel_page

Petrova/Tszyu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs9yCevpEfg&feature=channel_page

Alferova/Vanagas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hafsk4JQQqg&feature=channel_page

Drobiazko/Miller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx0xBYaGh4Q&feature=channel_page

Friske/Marinin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ue2trfRI8&feature=channel_page

Arntgolts/Staviski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbb8Ha0EWU&feature=channel_page

Navka/Kolganov
http://www.youtube.com/wa...amp;feature=channel_page

Strizhenova/Tikhonov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNGtPv6acuc&feature=channel_page

Babenko/Kostomarov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab-YwHIn7Kg&feature=channel_page

Lobacheva/Shevelkov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4pz5FzJ9Mw&feature=channel_page

Gordeeva/Beroev
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ADudnryAFo&feature=channel_page

Laurie

More from the Quiet Haven forum from Baboushka Yaga:

She says there were nine of them who attended the taping.

Alexei was given an enormous bouquet of 29 roses, along with wishes of success and health and for everyone he loves. Fans from other cities had also entrusted them with flowers for Alexei, and he ended up with five more bouquets, including two from Ukraine and Ireland. He was also given stuffed animals - two labradors and an octopus, LOL.

Photos of Alexei with his labrador, LOL, and with Tatiana:

http://ipb.su/uploads/ipbsu/myhaven/post-14-1237405125.jpg

http://ipb.su/uploads/ipbsu/myhaven/post-14-1237405089.jpg

http://ipb.su/uploads/ipbsu/myhaven/post-14-1237405153.jpg

http://ipb.su/uploads/ipbsu/myhaven/post-14-1237405260.jpg

Laurie

White Crow's videos from today's Ice Age broadcast:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=WhiteCrowAgain&view=videos

Laurie

I thought Alexei and Valeria's program was simply wonderful. I loved the music and the "playlet" atmosphere of it. And the skating was fab!

Skatesall, I think there are supposed to be a total of eight performances in the Super Finale round - six with the pairs from each group competing directly against each other until each pair in one group has competed against each pair in the other group, and then I think they get down to finalizing the winners, taking audience votes into consideration, for the last two performances, and there will be eliminations. That's the way I understand it, anyway.

Laurie

There was a taping today. The theme was Russian hit music - maybe rock music.

Alexei and Valeria got 12.00. It was supposed to be a cool number, with Valeria wearing a raspberry colored dress and Alexei in a green sweater and gray pants. The props were portraits. There were some nice straightline and circular step sequences. I'm not too sure I understood the storyline, but I'll wait to see the video, LOL.

They competed against Zhanna Friske & Maxim Marinin and won the match-up.

Also, I had been reading tabloids that said Valeria had been hospitalized - apparently it was commented upon at the taping so it must be true. The tabloids said it was kidney problems - not sure if the reason was discussed at the taping.

Here are some stats from the Quiet Haven forum:

Marks today:

Xenia Alferova - Povilas Vanagas - 12.00
Alena Babenko - Roman Kostomarov - 12.00
Ekaterina Gordeeva - Yegor Beroev - 12.00
Margarita Drobyazko - Dmitry Miller - 12.00
Valeria Lanskaya - Alexei Yagudin - 12.00
Tatiana Navka - Vadim Kolganov - 12.00
Irina Slutskaya - Gediminas Taranda - 12.00
Zhanna Friske - Maxim Marinin - 11.98
Ekaterina Strizhenova - Alexei Tikhonov - 11.92
Maria Petrova - Konstantin Tszyu - 11,84
Olga Arntgolts - Maxim Staviski - 11.74
Irina Lobacheva - Vladimir Shevelkov - 11.72

After five tapings, here are the scores:

Tanya-Vadim - 2+2+2+2+2=10
Katya-Yegor - 2+2+2+2+2=10
Lera-Lesha - 2+2+2+2+2=10
Rita-Dima - 1+2+2+2+2=9
Ksyusha-Povilas - 1+2+2+2+2=9
Irina -Gedeminas - 2+2+1+1+2=8
Alenea- Rom - 2+1+2+1+2=8
Katya -Lesha - 2+1+1+2+2=8
Irina- Vladimir - 2+1+1+1+1=6
Zhanna- Maxim - 1+2+1+1+1=6
Masha- Kostya - 1+1+2+1+1=6
Olga- Maxim - 1+1+1+1+1=5


Laurie

Ice Age broadcast, April 4th:

The theme was Russian rock music, and while I didn't know any of the music, and the music was more lyrical and less rock-ish than I would have expected, LOL, the skating itself was very enjoyable.

Marat and Anastasia looked like a biker guy and chick, LOL - all in black, lots of studs, LOL. Not a great look for Anastasia, but I thought Marat's look was very entertaining, although for some inexplicable reason he reminded me of Plush in this get up, LOL.

Not in skating order, but in scoring order:

Alferova/Vanagas - 12.00 - excellent, excellent number. I always love Ksenia and she did not disappoint. I think the music was from Zemfira, but I'm not sure.

Babenko/Kostomarov - 12.00 - another excellent number. Very romantic - Kostomarov dressed like a military guy, Alena in a beautiful and elegant off shoulder dress - Alena is a wonderful actress and she played the overwrought partner to perfection.

Gordeeva/Beroev - 12.00 - yet another excellent number. Katia is always perfection in both skating and presentation. I'm still not as impressed with Yegor as the judges are, LOL, but he is certainly a handsome man and does everything expected of him. Romantic, passionate, and he's a very, very good actor.

Drobiazko/Miller - 12.00 - another affecting wartime theme performance, with Margarita playing the distraught girlfriend/wife being left behind while the man goes off to the front. In the end, he changes his mind and stays with his lady. Very beautiful number.

Lanskaya/Yagudin - 12.00 - exquisite, exquisite, exquisite - just gorgeous skating from the both of them, difficult tricks, perfect expression from Alexei, as always. I keep finding new favorite numbers of theirs, but it's just too hard to keep track of them, LOL.

Navka/Kolganov - 12.00 - I was not as enamored of this number as the judges were. Maybe it's because I don't find Tanya to be as compelling a dramatic skater as she is in light comedy or simply fun numbers. I just don't find her as believable in the dramatic roles. But no question she is a fabulous skater and her moves are always wonderful.

Slutskaya/Taranda - 12.00 - another number where I was confused by the judges' scoring, LOL. I love Irina, and she's always adorable in these numbers, but I'm just not the biggest fan of these very broad comedy numbers, although clearly these are the numbers that this pair excel at and clearly Gediminas loves them. They played giant mice, LOL.

Friske/Marinin - 11.98 - I didn't pay that close attention to this number so maybe I missed something. Again, very highly scored. Zhanna has certainly improved as the season goes on and she usually plays her character dead-on, but...

Strizhenova/Tikhonov - 11.92 - beautiful, romantic number. I thought both of them were fine. Theme seemed to be sadness due to the rain, but at the end the sun comes out and they are happy together.

Petrova/Tszyu - 11.84 - I can't remember this number at all so it must not have been memorable, but I do remember thinking Maria is a very pretty woman. Sorry!

Arntgolts/Staviski - 11.74 - this is a number I thought was undermarked. Maybe it came across differently live, but watching it on my TV screen, I thought it looked fine. Olga is a gorgeous, gorgeous woman, and I think she's trying very hard, but in my opinion she does not have her sister's acting ability and that is making itself apparent. They make a very pretty picture, but there doesn't seem to be the passion and chemistry that Tanya and Maxim had together.

Lobacheva/Shevelkov - 11.72 - I normally love Irina's work, but this particular number didn't grab me. It didn't help that Shevelkov fell at the very beginning and that kind of took the wind out of their sails. Also, they seem to squabble a lot during the profile segment. Again, not knowing Russian, I don't know if they were really squabbling, LOL, but that's how it came across in tone and body language.

All in all, a very good show. The leaders continue to excel and put down some great performances. Unfortunately, I used to watch these with the joy of expectation, and now it's with the pain of regret. But I'm still happy that I can at least watch the show on TV/video. So I'm thankful for that.

Laurie