Announcing a new novel ...

Ice Charades: Penguins Behaving Badly and Other Follies From the Road


Sound familiar?

Yes, Miss Ice Charades has spent the last five years fine-tuning a novel about skating in an ice show and it is now out on Amazon.com and the publisher's site - Createspace.com with a 10% discount.

If you've been checking in with this blog for any of the past year and a half, you have gotten a taste of what's in the book. But for anyone that wanted more ice show wackiness mixed in to a juicy little plot, here you go.

It's based on my experience with ice shows, mainly my first one in Europe in the early 80s for Holiday On Ice. Because you never forget your first.

I spent a lot of time in that ice show wondering if I'd be fired for forgetting the steps, if I'd be fined for forgetting part of my costume or letting it drag on the floor, or if I'd be robbed going back late at night after work.

Good times.

But seriously, the book might serve as a source of information for anyone that wants to join an ice show - points both good and bad. And even though it takes place in the early 80s, only the gear has changed. Instead of Skype, IPods, internet and Visa, we had letters home, more letters, Sony Walkmans and more letters home asking for money.

But don't take my word for it. Here is what two authors said, who graciously read advanced copies of the book. By the way - shameless plug alert - their books are also available on-line. Just follow the links below.


"This book is a charmer. Jenny Hall has crafted a delightful coming-of-age story of a young woman and her sometimes comical, sometimes heart-wrenching journey to find love and ultimately herself. You don't have to be interested in figure skating to appreciate the colorful characters and their adventures on the road trip of a lifetime."
Nikki Nichols Cunningham, Author of Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team

"A lot of fun to read. It takes me back to my pro skating days!"
Kathryn Bertine, Author of All the Sundays Yet to Come and As Good as Gold

You Tell Me ...

One of my favorite radio shows comes from the Washington DC area that I used to listen to all the time when I lived there. It was Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban (pronounced like zaBAN)of the Sports Reporters on ESPN 980.

Even though I don't follow (or care much for)college football or basketball, I would still listen to them regardless of the topic.

Some of Czaban's classics are the rundown of the best Halloween candy, which holiday is better - 4th of July or Thanksgiving, and the "You Tell Me ..." if you had to do one of these which would it be: a fastball pitch to the thigh by Nolan Ryan, a full body tackle by Lavar Arrington (then football player for the Washington Redskins) or a punch from Mike Tyson?

Despite the fact that two of these could be fatal to your average Joe, it was fun to hear listeners call in and explain their answers. Most wanted the fastball.

Then he had the special Winter Olympic version of "You Tell Me", which would you rather do: the giant slalom, the luge run, or jump of the ski jump?

So I thought I would do the figure skating version(and let's leave out the bodily injury factor.) You Tell Me, what would you rather do (or in this case, feel): a quadruple toe loop, a detroiter(pair spin), or a really fast scratch spin?

Happy Halloween!

South of the border, the kids keep it real for Halloween. The costumes skew to the scary, gory, spooky. It's probably because Dia de Muertos, "Day Of The Dead" comes two days later. That's the real morbid stuff.

So for Halloween at my daughter's school, boys are either skeletons, vampires, pirates or mummies. Girls tend to be witches, Morticia from the Adams Family, Maleficent, the villian from Sleeping Beauty or black cats. And then there are the gender neutral costumes: zombies or devils.

I saw a little cutie dressed as a nurse, but her face and costume were covered in fake blood. Even the adorable 4-year old girl dressed in your standard Disney princess dress showed up at school with her face painted all white and black smudged under her eyes turning her from Sleeping Beauty to Zombie Beauty.

So when the costume parade at school began and kid in a baseball cap and sweatshirt walked across the stage, I'd love to know why his parents thought "fan of hockey" was so scary.

At least he wasn't a fan of figure skating.

Confession (Of The Month)

Now that I'm past the statute of limitations of any ice show fines they could hand out, I can fess up. And since I have a dozen or so confessions, I thought I'd turn it into a monthly feature. So, here goes ...

When I skated one show in Japan, I stayed in a tiny hotel room of the hotel we were skating for. Did I say it was a small room? It was so tiny, I could almost reach three of the four walls when I stretched out on the bed. Anywho ... since we were not hotel guests we did not get regular maid service, regular towels, or regular treatment.

In fact, I think the maids we had were from the Japanese Retired Cleaning Association that got together once every two weeks or so for tea and then a random cleaning of the skaters' rooms in our hotel. Usually three or more of these tiny people (lots of things are small in Japan) would swarm into our room to clean them, unnanounced at any time of the day, forcing the skater to get out the room - usually swearing and fuming.

It was funny to watch the skaters get so mad. Luckily, my room was at the end of the line, so I got enough warning to change out of my pajamas and even help the old cleaners a little. And you know what? When I did I started getting the regular towels and new sheets that paying hotel guests got. And I helped out some more and tried to practice my Japanese on them. Then I started getting lots of towels, instead of the rationed few the skaters usually got and slippers to boot.

Then one day I went too far. I left a little gift for the maids. Big mistake.

They were compelled to give me a bigger gift and then I needed to get them another bigger gift and so on and so on. This my friends is the gift-giving-arms-race of Japan. Be weary.

But as for the confession - here it is - I never told any of the other skaters about my little gold mine, because it was too much fun to watch them curse and whine.

Judging System Explained by Aaron - Repost

It's competition season now. And if any of you are like me - you're pining over the days of 6.0 and can't make heads or tails of the new system, all while you're brain is full trying to remember the names of the top pair skaters and ice dancers. So I thought I would repost a simple, yet comprehensive explanation by Aaron of Axels, Loops, and Spins on judging.

Enjoy!

There are parts I like about it...parts I don't. Here's the easy way of beginning to understand it.

Every element (spin, jump, lift, etc.) has an assigned point value. Then the judges rate how well you do it...great is +3...terrible is -3...and there's everything in between. These are called Grade's of Execution (GOE's). The GOE's on each element are averaged and the skater get's that much bonus or deduction for the element.

Spins, footwork, spiral sequences have what they call levels. Level 1 stuff is pretty basic...level 4 stuff is the manic crazy stuff you were mentioning. The higher the level...the more points you get.

The old artistic score is now the program component score. Things like skating skills, transitions, choreography, interpretation, timing are each judged on a 10 point scale. 10 is great, 1 is really bad.

When it's time for the marks, a random selection of judges is chosen (we or the judges don't know which judges scores are counting)...the technical element score is all points and levels the skaters got on their elements all added up. The Program component scores are all those things on the 10 point scale added up. This gives you the segment total.

The final score is found by adding all the segment scores together...highest points wins.

Thanks!

Attention All Show Skaters

Theatre Arts On Ice is holding a fundraising skate party!

Where: Seaside Ice in Redondo Beach, California - Check it out. Pretty nice, eh.


When: November 14, 4 - 7 pm


Why: Proceeds will be used to support the making of "The Frozen Stage," an historical documentary project by Susan Austin and Scott Williams that traces the evolution of professional/theatrical skating.

I wish I could be there. You should go if you can and support the effort to preserve the legacy of show skating.

Go to http://www.seasideice.com/thefrozenstage for more info!

Follow Up From the FTC

Here's a follow up article about mentioning somewhere in your glowing review you got the stuff for free. Those fines they would be handing out? They would not go to the blogger, but the advertiser instead.

So that's good news for bloggers, but that's also bad news for bloggers. Now I know I won't be getting anything for free!