Costumes, Ice and Sand

Today is Isabelle’s birthday my all time favorite cross-dresser.

Isabelle Eberhardt Isabelle Eberhardt (Feb. 17, 1877 – October 21, 1904) was an explorer who lived and traveled extensively in North Africa.

Isabelle did not have to fake to be a princess, (unlike Johnny Weir) she was a real Russian Princess, who was imprisoned at one time suspected of spying. She died in a flash flood. Her life was a mess.
Isabelle Eberhardt was a true eccentric, flamboyant, courageous and totally unconventional.

More images of Isabelle, here.

Johnny Oscar Wilde Warhol Weir Johnny Weir

“Weir is a charming, funny kid from rural Pennsylvania. He isn’t afraid to say anything – even to call himself “princessy” or to describe a competitor’s short program as “a vodka-shot-let’s-snort-coke kind of thing.” His favorite book is “The Devil Wears Prada” though his favorite author is Leo Tolstoy. He’s a fashionista and a Russophile. He’s learned to speak Russian and wears a vintage CCCP Sweater. He went shopping on Via Roma and considered buying a mink-lined umbrella. He calls his family ‘country bumpkins’.” (read more here.)

Now lets focus on the champion males from very recent competitions. Rufus and Plushenko won the best in show and the bad news for other competitors is that Plushenko will continue his amateur career. The Russian federation will not allow Plushenko to retire, they have no successors. The good news is his body may not hold up to the next Olympics – his specialty is executing those incredible jumps and he has been plagued with injuries in the past.

Jeffrey Buttle Jeffrey Buttle (thanks to David Wilson – the choreopgrapher)

Here are my picks of the best from the Men’s figure skating competition last night.

1 Jeffery Buttle’s brilliant transitional movements
(Buttle did not channel Glenn Gould last night choosing instead his more reliable old number.)
2 Happy to see Lysaceck coming back from his disasterous short
3 Matt Savoie

“Matthew Savoie delivered another beautiful program. His presentation may be understated and quiet, but it stirs the emotions of the audience. Savoie reminds me of the legendary John Curry. His skating is pure, effortless and moving. He can be proud of his Olympic experience.” (Zimmerman from yahoo) More photo and praise for Matt here.

Matt Savoie Matt Savoie

Matt Savoie should play abbe of the diary of the country priest or Lancelot du Lac– he is the ideal skater to tackle Robert Bresson. The law school can wait, he should entertain us – see the clip of “The Mission” from US National 2006″.

See The placement here. Both Savoie and Takahashi should be on top of Joubert.

But the judging system seems to be fixed – they still manage to cheat. The order of finish, second through forth is exactly the same as last year’s world men’s championship except that Plushenko is back from injury to take the gold and move the others down a position. The new system is so complicated that nobody can figure it out – very clever.

Dale from Scribble writes about Olympics.