2005 COI Reviews&Pics Thread - please post them here!

[Grace]

I had a bit of trouble looking for everyone's reviews (ok, not trouble, but lol, always am anticipating them every night) and I saw some requested in forum feedback for a central thread. I thought that was a good idea. I think it would be really great and efficient for everyone (as well as clean and organized for the board) if everyone put their reviews here! (I realize it will get long.. in that case, we can create another central thread when that happens.)

COI Rehearsal -
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...8434.topic

COI East Rutherford NJ -
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2141.topic
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2134.topic

COI Boston - pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2144.topic
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2146.topic
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2145.topic

COI Durham, NH
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...8447.topic

COI New York -
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2199.topic
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2200.topic

COI Washington DC -
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2224.topic

COI Philly -
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2232.topic
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2241.topic

Thanks,
~Grace

Great idea maybe you could sticky it to the top so that everyone can see it and we won't have to keep bumping it up.

Thanks for posting this because I found some reviews I hadn't read yet!!

:TOS

[fdevine]

Thanks.

grannie frances

[Ashley]

Great idea Grace

Can't wait to post mine (less than a month away)!

[KeithB]

mysite.verizon.net/vze3kf...m/id3.html

I posted some follow-up remarks in the Washington DC review thread.

[Fumbilicious]

Thanks Keith for the link to those great photos! Very nice!

[Grace]

HeatherV23's pics from NY:
pub165.ezboard.com/fmiche...2252.topic

[Grace]

Rachel's Pics from COI Philly:

home.ptd.net/~rachelr/mus...004COI.htm

[graciesfriend]

Very nice photos, KeithB!

[GMAN]

Thanks Heather! This way it's way easier reading all the reviews!! Thanks again!

[KeithB]

Thanks for the kind words about my pictures. I was pleasantly surprised at what I could do with a budget-priced camera with a speed of ISO 100 and no full manual shutter priority setting.

I made a simple gunsight and mounted it on top of the camera, so I could aim at a moving skater while seeing normally with both eyes for the best possible view. When I aimed in this way, the autofocus worked fine, even during spins. Sometimes my aim wandered because I had trouble seeing the front end of the sight in the dark arena under spotlights. I should have put a miniature red light on the front end. I would say that my aim was good 90% of the time.

I improvised by having the flash turned on but covered with black tape. This locked the shutter speed at 1/125. The recharging of the flash does not slow things down much, because the camera needs a few seconds to write the image onto the memory card before it will take the next shot. The resulting images were underexposed, but they have phenomenal recovery capability by means of Paint Shop Pro brightness, contrast, tint and gamma correction.

My biggest problem was rushing the next shot when Michelle was skating, rather than giving the camera the few seconds it needed to be ready for the next shot. This resulted in some mistimed shots, and made me uptight enough that some of the pleasure and awareness of Michelle's choreography was lost. I think I could have improved my discipline and made it more nearly second nature by practicing on TV playback of my skating tapes.

Once again, my experience really makes me appreciate the skill that went into so many of the fine pictures we are enjoying online.

COI in East Rutherford, NJ:

www.theskateblade.com/events/reports/2004coi-nj.htm

[Janice]

I drove7.5 hours this morning to go to the Atlanta COI ... I found a motel that has internet access, so I thought I'd post a brief report.

Michelle was perfect tonight and received the only standing ovation from the crowd. Her number is mesmerizing.

I brought my new digital camera, but had lots of problems with it.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable show and I had a good time sitting between people who had never been before. They had a great time and really enjoyed everything.

I'll post more when I get home tomorrow afternoon.

[Heather]

Here are my Philly COI pictures. Like I said in my review, my camera seems to *only* do bad at the Philly COI show. It does great at COI shows at other venues, it does great at other skating shows in the same arena. But Philly COI? Never works out well.

heatherw.com/mk/reports/c...04_pic.htm

[cyncansurvive]

So digital cameras are allowed at COI this year? Or is everyone smuggling them in?

[Heather]

So digital cameras are allowed at COI this year? Or is everyone smuggling them in?

cyncansurvive-They've always been allowed. Where do you see the show? Maybe your arena doesn't allow digital cameras.

[graciesfriend]

Janice, thanks for your report; it's great to hear that Michelle skated so well! I'm sure she enjoyed being back in Kwanlanta!

Heather, your pictures are great! Thanks for posting them!

[TwinnerA]

Heather, I think your Philly photos are great, certainly twice as good as anything I have taken! I do think though that the pink light during YRMU probably doesn't help any!

[cyncansurvive]

Thanks Heather, I checked the COI site and it has no rules against them.
I see the show at the Gund in Cleveland. Last year they said no digital and threatened confiscation. A guy in front of me was using a digital and they came up to him during the show and told him to stop using it or they would take it.
I went to SOI this year when it was here in Feb at the Gund and they allowed Digital. I checked their site in advance to make sure it wasn't listed as a no-no. A few of my pix are blurred but the others came out nice. So I'm hoping for some nice pix tomorrow as I've never gotten nice pix from my standard camera.

[Janice]

I drove up to Atlanta from Orlando to see this year's Champions on Ice. Since others have given far better particulars than I can impart, I thought I would share my general impressions.

First, I sat with a mother and her adult daughter on one side and a woman about my age on the other. None of them had been to the show before. Based on their reactions, Tom Collins is right on the mark with the acrobats, hula hoops, Hollander, and audience attack numbers.

Shen and Zhao's aerials received the appropriate gasps. Shen's delayed spin had me gasping, because I thought for a moment that Zhao would skate past her ... indeed, I thought he turned back to catch her. Their transitions on their lifts appeared a little rough. I'm thinking it was not one of their better performances. Still, the throws and twists were quite exciting to see live.

I am in love with Johnny Weir. What a pleasure it was to see those light, airy jumps in person. "Imagine" is very instrospective, and I think it would have been really nice to have been placed later in the skater to balance all the 'hard, pulsing' techno type music.

Plushenko really has a fast, tight rotation to his jumps. Petrenko chose a song that reminded me of an expensive string bikini. Someone paid a lot for very little material. I'm not sure, but I think the chair he brought out on the ice was propositioning him.

Sasha Cohen's exhibition piece really suits her. While I knew before hand what she was skating to, I confess that "Mary Poppins" did pop into my head when I saw the hat and coat.

Speaking of which ... the spiral. I don't know if this is typical, but I noticed that she only holds the full split position for a very short time. What drew my attention to it in particular was seeing Nicole Bobeks' spiral this year. Bobek used to flow so easily into that split and really hold it. Last night, she really wobbled getting her leg into position and then was out of the spiral very quickly. It was sad to see her signature move deteriorate that way. It's possible there was a problem with the ice, since Sasha had the same wobble a little bit later.

Irina sure had a lot of fun with her program and the crowd really embraced her. I also found it intersting how well Elvis plays to the crowd. Say what you will, he really does have great audience rapport.

Michelle closed out the cold spots and she was really on. I really do like this exhibition number ... and yay for her for breaking with the traditional 'woman skate to female vocal' tradition. I'm sure she isn't the first, but I do remember a discussion on one of the lists about this a while back. She received the only standing ovation of the evening and it was pretty much a full house standing for her.

I hated that this year I was one of those annoying 'flash' camera people. I ended up not taking a lot of photo's because I couldn't get the camera to take a picture without the flash. I hit every mode there was to correct the problem, but I never did manage to get it to work properly. I missed all of Candeloro's skate while I worked on the camera ... did I miss anything? ; )

Tom Collins should be pleased. Overall, the comments I heard swirling around me as I left the Phillips Arena were all positive, especially from the men who were coerced to attend by their wives or girlfriends.

Janice

Thanks for the report, Janice! Petrenko and string bikini:rollin

Thanks for the reviews!!! Are there any more Atlanta Reviews? THANKS AGAIN

Thanks Janice...

I too was in Atlanta...right on the front row. Yay me for good seats this year!

You didn't miss much with Candeloro. He spent so much time in the audience, they should have charged him for a ticket.

Michelle was absolutely breathtaking. I was almost in tears.

I agree that the circus/acrobatic/comedy stuff does do well for those men who are dragged to the shows or the women who sat next to me. I must take a moment and complain, as I had the most annoying woman alive next to me. She would alternate being hot or cold through the whole show. For instance, she blocked my view part way through Jenny Kirk's number to put on her coat. Then when Johnny Weir skated, she took it off again. When Michelle skated, I finally told her that I better not see that coat move from her body for Michelle's whole skate. I wasn't going to miss it.

I agree that Elvis has great audience rapport. The little girl behind me was dying to see him. Everytime they were announcing another skater, she would whisper, "Is it Elvis?"

Overall, it was a great night. I was a little disappointed with the finale. It seemed to lack oomph. But it wasn't bad either.

[Janice]

Oh, how terrible for you. I'm glad my crew was really into the programs. We were in row L, so we weren't that close to the ice. I wanted to get tickets for the really close seats, but Ticketmaster said they were sold out. My seat mates told me there were seats available the day before I purchased my ticket. Oh well.

We had the corporate people in the rows ahead of us. One group arrived after intermission! I guess when you don't have to pay for the tickets, it doesn't really matter that much.

I didn't mention that my favorite outfit of the evening was Sasha's exhibition dress. It just shimmered. I love sparkly things, so it was right up my alley.