It’s always fun to find someone who’s essentially done your work for you, and here at Toepick! we’ve been lucky enough to find such a person. YouTube’s TheWaveceptor has kindly assembled several compilations of skaters from around the world doing TV commercials for your entertainment and enjoyment. Some of the ads are funny, some are weird, some are downright spacey.

Here, you can see Carolina Kostner gliding and spinning through a magical land in which everything is made of crackers and breadsticks; Kiira Korpi skating amidst raspberries and blackberries big enough to crush her; Evgeni Plushenko peddling lollipops; Michelle Kwan making a salad in bunny slippers; Yu-Na Kim washing a dog; Daisuke Takahashi showing a salarywoman how to find a real energy drink; Kimmie Meissner arguing “More Meat” vs. “Less Fat” with Jared from Subway; Miki Ando in a really cool personal mobility vehicle from Toyota; the doomed “Kwan vs. Cohen” NBC ad promoting the 2006 Winter Olympics; Jeff Buttle practicing his Canadian schoolboy French; and much more, including the pièce de résistance, Brian Joubert showing off his underwear. How can you lose?

I do want to make one comment here. I think Michelle Kwan makes putting together a great salad from things you find in your refrigerator way, way too easy. If this commercial were being made in my kitchen, with me as the star, it would consist of scenes of me pulling something out of the fridge that looks promising, taking the lid off, making a face of utter revulsion at the smell, staring in horror at the green fuzz all over the contents, then dumping the whole thing in the trash. The conclusion would show me sighing and reaching for a bag of chips. Point? Some people can “Kraft a salad” out of whatever they happen to have sitting around; other people have refrigerator contents more suited to curing strep throat than salad making. Hmm…maybe that’s why Michelle’s a skater and I’m not.

Anyway. There’s really only one appropriate way to end this salute to skaters in ads, and that’s with this oldie-but-goodie from Delta Lloyd Insurance (thanks, margaretttka) that we think sums up our feelings about figure skating vs. hockey very nicely. Sir, you skate for us all.

Since figure skaters first became popular entertainers, they’ve appeared in print advertising, and when television came along, they became equally popular TV pitchmen and women. Thus it is that we can look at TV commercials from all around the world — from decades past and into the present — and find them just chockful of our favorite skaters. And some of the ads are a little more unusual than others. Here are some, well, interesting examples of ads featuring figure skaters that folks have saved and posted to the many Internets.

In her dedication to her first autobiography On and Off the Ice, published when she was still married to the late Dean-Paul Martin, Olympic and world champion Dorothy Hamill thanked her father-in-law Dino, who, she joked, “still thinks I’m the girl who throws gum into the pool.” Dorothy was making reference to this commercial, in which not she, but her fellow world and Olympic champ Peggy Fleming, tosses Trident into the drink and makes kids go after it. Why? To prove the packaging is AIRTIGHT to preserve freshness, silly! Why else?

In later years, Tara Lipinski, who followed Peggy and Dot as a U.S., world and Olympic champion, took advantage of the many offers that came her way, and one of them was to promote Snapple drinks. In this rather disturbing ad, people obtain a cardboard cutout of Tara from a Snapple display and treat it like part of the family. Apparently, “treating it like part of the family” includes tossing it in the car trunk to take it home, cutting it off at the knees so it can be a target for Spin the Bottle, and some other nasty fates:

Today’s skaters also do commercials, of course — and some of them are a little weirder than others. In this ad, for example, Italian skating champ Carolina Kostner has to escape a car that attacks her from beneath the ice, rather like the shark in Jaws. Or is she supposed to be the car — in control and capable of quick maneuvers on treacherous ice?

But the undisputed modern-day queen of the TV commercial figure skaters is world champion Yu-Na Kim, whose pitches in South Korea are so numerous and ubiquitous that one gets the impression you can barely turn on a TV there without running into her smiling face plugging something, from cell phones to milk to cars to bandages to fabric softener to banks to school uniforms to lipstick. What’s more, there’s never just the commercial, there’s always a “Making Of The Commercial” video that goes up on YouTube for all the world to see. Let’s take a look at just a few of Yu-Na’s more unusual ads.

For one thing, although gymnast Cathy Rigby gave it a go once, figure skaters are not generally well known for promoting feminine hygiene products. But Yu-Na’s changed all that with this lovely ad for a brand of pad called Whisper:

From what we hear, during the current global economic crisis, Yu-Na has been to South Korea what Shirley Temple was to millions of American moviegoers during the Great Depression. So who better than she to tell you to put a smile on your face and laugh away those blues? This one is her contribution to a larger “public service campaign” in South Korea known as the “HaHaHa Campaign,” dedicated to “spreading laughter and encouragement during these hard times.” And it’s all kinds of weirdness. Enjoy:

But the ads everyone in her country knows best are probably Yu-Na’s pitches for Samsung Hauzen air conditioners, in which she portrays the “Goddess of Wind” and again gets to exercise her considerable singing talents. Watch them enough times and you’ll find yourself “shing, shing, shing”-ing along with her. Here’s what seems to be the best-known one:

Nothing particularly weird about it, but of course when something gets well enough known, the parodies commence. Hence this fellow, who appears to be a Korean TV comedian, who decided to do his own version. (It doesn’t come in until 0.51 into the video. A former clip that showed just this parody has apparently been taken down.)

So there you have it. Figure skaters in commercials — the good, the weird and the wacky. And if anyone can ever find me a clip of that old 1970s ad with JoJo Starbuck spinning atop a gigantic styrofoam Cup O’Noodles, I’ll be eternally grateful.

SKATING WEIRDALICIOUSNESS OF THE DAY: Be of good cheer! The ongoing NHK Trophy competition has just gifted Toepick! with some fresh weirdaliciousness in the form of…of all things…the kiss ‘n’ cry. Not content to present just another K&C with a bench/couch, a curtain or placards behind it and surrounded with flowers, corporate logos and such, NHK is giving us a waiting area straight out of Johnny Weir’s wildest fantasies. Not only is the signage trimmed in fluffy white feathers, but colored feathers are actually FLOATING up and down on vertical currents of air (no doubt being carefully piped in) behind the clear vinyl shower curtain that serves as a backdrop (and a light show of constantly changing pastels adds to the fun). Video of it is scarce on YouTube as of now, but we did find this footage of Kavaguti & Smirnov’s short program that shows them basking in the bizarreness (the program itself makes good watching, but you can skip to 5:42 just to see them wait for scores):

How is Vancouver gonna top this? We doubt they will.

Holla if you’re enjoying the skating coverage on Universal Sports.  It’s the main reason I’ve been holding out on springing for IceNetwork, which I subscribed to last year but found myself burning out on.  See, in theory it’s great to have every performance available to you, but in practice, you’re probably not going to watch every single skater, nor will you have or make the time to do so once the competition is over.  Plus, I had constant buffering problems during live coverage last season.  If they can enhance the stream quality for live competitions, I would consider giving them my money again.  But for now, the Universal Sports broadcasts that I’m getting for free are doing a fine job.  They do same-day airings, which, aside from live coverage of, like, Nationals or something, is far more timely than skatefans are used to.  (Remember when Lifetime would show pairs and dance about two weeks after the actual competition?  We were so patient and grateful back then.)  They also do same-day encores and usually another encore the next day.  Pretty sweet.  The only downside is that you’re subjected to endless repeats of commercials for hair plugs and Bowflex.

So, Cup of China.  I guess I’ll sum up by discipline.

LADIES

How many people picked Akiko Suzuki to win?  Yeah, me, neither.  I didn’t even know who she was prior to this competition, which speaks to the depth of the ladies’ field in Japan.  She needs more stretch and speed, but she is a very good jumper and has two well-packaged programs.  Given Mao Asada’s troubles thus far, Suzuki has a very good shot at snagging one of the three available Olympic spots.

The rest of the field were varying degrees of mess.

Carolina Kostner’s troubles continue.  If Kiira Korpi can win a medal with basically only edge jumps, maybe Kostner should water down her own jump content and try to maximize GOE.  Not very many top ladies do five different types of triples anymore.  Then again, Kostner is such a headcase that I don’t know what strategy can work for her.  I mean, other than retirement.

Joannie Rochette reverted to her headcase-ness, bombing her short and falling in her long.  Makes it look like last season was more of a fluke than a turn of the corner.

Mirai Nagasu proved that when she rotates her jumps fully, she’ll be in the mix.  Hopefully Frank Carroll will be able to correct this problem for her now that she appears to be on the other side of her growth spurt.  The international judges clearly like her, at least when they don’t have to downgrade five triples and give two edge calls.

Rachael Flatt had an unusually poor skate, at least relative to how steady she usually is.  The program just got away from her, and without the jumps, there was nothing else that really stood out in her skating.  Not the best impression to make when there are only two Olympic spots up for grabs, and about five or six ladies gunning for them.

MEN

Nobunari Oda is having a killer season so far, Y/Y?  I think his short is kind of dreadful in the way that boilerplate Morozov men’s programs tend to be, but his Chaplin long is very charming and suits his playful personality very well.  That said, I think he is running the risk of peaking too early.  February is a long way off yet.  Save something for the Olympic rings, Nobu.

Evan Lysacek had a very good debut of his two new programs, which look just like his old programs set to different music.  (Well, I’m sure there are some things that are different, but when the layout of elements is identical, there’s only so much room for variation.)  He looked calm and in control the entire competition; mentally, he’s right where he needs to be.  The final footwork sequence in Scheherazade is going to bring down the house.  It almost made me emotional just watching it this weekend.

Samuel Contesti skates with an unmatched joie de vivre and has the ability to continue to sell his programs even when he makes mistakes.  He’s one of the few skaters who doesn’t let errors throw off his performance.

I would prefer for Yannick Ponsero to be the French man who accompanies Brian Joubert to the Olympics.  He has no reliable jump technique, but he’s ambitious and stylish and not hard on the eyes.

PAIRS

The judges welcomed back Shen & Zhao with open arms.  They are about as good as they ever were:  their throws and twist are still insane.  They looked a little rusty in the long program, but they are definitely back and in the OGM hunt.  It’s not going to be an automatic coronation of Savchenko & Szolkowy, after all.

The Zhangs seem to have stagnated, imo.  The elements they do well are still good, but I’m not seeing progression in unison.  Right now they look like China #3.

Volosozhar & Morozov kept their Pearl Harbor LP, which is quite good.  Unfortunately, Stanislav Morozov is not.

Duhamel & Buntin…no bueno.  Maybe he’s still coming back from shoulder surgery.

Iliushechkina & Maisuradze are faces to watch for the future.  They need to focus on technique more than the showy stuff at this point in their career, though.  Get rock-solid, dependable technique now, and then let Lubov go crazy with the bendy rhythmic gymnast stuff.

DANCE

Belbin & Agosto were in a class of their own in all three phases of the competition.  Linichuk has done wonders for their technique, and this year she’s given them OGM-worthy programs.  Everything about their skating is at another level from where it was two years ago.  The lifts in particular are sophisticated and beautiful.

Khokhlova & Novitski’s all-Russia, all the time approach to their OD and FD might be a little too much Russia for everyone else, and that’s not including the costumes.  I got the feeling that they have stagnated; their bendy tricks which were once eye-catching and novel now seem a little stale.  They need to keep developing if they want to get back to the podium, something that I think seems impossible this year regardless of Domnina & Shabalin’s status.

Faiella & Scali have possibly the best dances of their career this season, with an Italian tantarella OD and turn-of-the-century immigrant FD.  Smoother skating, better partnering, and better choreography give them a real chance to move up, though it won’t be easy.

The Zaretskis appear to have maxed out their abilities. It’s just really hard for me to imagine them getting much better than they currently are, by which I mean they’re better than bad, but their skating remains clunky and unison-free.

I expected Chock & Zuerlein to do better here than they did.  I didn’t really follow their junior career, so maybe I made some bad assumptions based on their pedigree.  They definitely seem to be the least well-received junior world champions that Igor has turned out in a while.  Message from the judges to Madison seemed to be: Retire Greg, or WE RETIRE YOU!!

Dopo quello di Amauri c’è un altro mistero che mi piacerebbe risolvere.

Quello relativo a Carolina Kostner. Perché nonostante non vinca praticamente mai, un po’ come l’Inter in Champion, è portata in palmo di mano dalla stampa che la pompa tutte le volte presentandola come la persona più meritevole della medaglia più preziosa, al contrario delle altre concorrenti in gara.

Anche quest’anno è partita favorita e invece torna a casa con il 12° posto dopo un programma corto nel quale ha commesso errori (vedi foto, è finita 5°) e un disastroso programma libero (15° e ultimo posto). Non è la prima volta che succede e se su google si digita “Kostner cade” appaiono una grande quantità di foto in cui lei è seduta sul ghiaccio.

Come mai accade questo? che cosa ha in più degli altri pattinatori italiani a parte la bella presenza? naturalmente quando tace perché ha una sgradevole voce nasale con accento tedesco e quindi è meglio quando è silenziosa. Davvero mi piacerebbe sapere che cosa la renda meritevole di un simile trattamento di favore.

Se poi di favore si tratta….secondo me con le chiacchiere e la pompatura le creano una tale pressione psicologica da non renderla in grado di esibirsi nel modo migliore. Non si spiega altrimenti una simile serie di prestazioni sbagliate. A meno naturalmente che non sia una schiappa, vestita però da uno stilista e protagonista di vari spot pubblicitari. Come Amauri del resto.

Per Amauri però forse ho un indizio: il suo procuratore è il figlio di Lippi. Quello che era della GEA e per un po’ non si è fatto vedere. La cosa può avere attinenza?

The womens competition was centered around the rivalry between Korea’s Yu-Na Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada, but while Asada faultered in her short program, Kim was simply brilliant. Asada turned a triple lutz into a double and as a result, she finds herself in third place and over ten points behind Kim. Canada’s Joannie Rochette is in second place after the short program.

Yu-Na Kim, however, brought the house down with her short program, which was to “Danse Macabre.” She beautifully mixed artistry with difficulty and finished the night with a world record score of 76.12.

Leaderboard: After the Short Program

1) Yu-Na Kim –76.12 (KOR)

2) Joannie Rochette –67.90 (CAN)

3) Mao Asada –66.06 (JPN)

4) Miki Ando –64.12 (JPN)

5) Carolina Kostner –63.18 (ITA)

Here is a video clip of Yu-Na Kim’s Short Program:

Photo of Laura Lepisto by Adam Brunner.

The fans in Helsinki got what they had hoped for, as Laura Lepisto became the first singles skater from Finland to win the European Championships. In fact, Finland had a great showing, as Susanna Poykio finished third and Kiira Korpi finished fifth. Lepisto was the bronze medalist at Euros last season and improved her position largely because of her gorgeous spins and heavy favorite Carolina Kostner’s mistakes. Kostner doubled two of her planned triple jumps and didn’t get credit for one of her spins because it was the same as one that she had previously done in the program. “At the flip, my concentration slipped for a moment,” said Kostner. “I can’t say this was my best program of the season. I made different errors each time.”

Lepisto was elated after she saw her score and she later tried to describe her emotions by saying that “This feeling can’t be described. I can’t even start to tell what all is going through my mind now. I could never have expected this to happen. I had said my goal is to medal, but that it would be gold, I can’t realize it.”

http://download.kataweb.it/mediaweb/image/brand_sport/2007/12/01/1196521384474_00b30d93.jpg

…o meglio, questo è quanto vorrebbero mamma e papà, ovvero i coniungi Beckham, ovvero ‘Posh Spice’ Victoria e il divo del calcio David Beckham in procinto di trasferirsi a Milano.
Sembra che i prodighi genitori vogliano offrire alla pattinatrice un compenso di circa 1000 euro l’ora. Insomma, bruscolini…
Carolina Kostner ha comunque affermato di non essere stata contattata ‘ufficialmente’ dalla coppia inglese, ma ha dichiarato che declinerà la proposta a causa della fitta agenda di impegni lavorativi.

“Sono molto onorata che la Beckham abbia pensato a me. Purtroppo sono molto impegnata con le gare e con il Musical “Winx on the Ice” a Torino e Roma. Non ho davvero il tempo ora di insegnare. Ma sarò ben felice di ospitarli ad uno degli spettacolim e, quando i tre figli mi verranno a trovare, sarò contenta di pattinare insieme a loro”.

News da HaiSentito.it

Victoria Beckham is coming to Milan, where her husband David Beckham will be a Milan Club’s football player from the new year. Posh Spice is planning new family life in Milan. She’s trying also to recruit Carolina Kostner to teach her kids ice skating . The salary would be 1000 euros per hours, but Carolina Kostner has said NO, cause her previous and more important engagements.

News form HaiSentito.it

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