I’ve so over Skype—but I’m not over Sonja Henie
Many years ago when I did the Sanity Squad podcasts, we used Skype for the connection. It worked. In those days there were no cameras connected with computers, but the audio was pretty good and I never remember having trouble getting everyone on the line together.
Now? Fahggetabout.
I recently had to add Skype to facilitate some conference calls in which I was supposed to have participated, and it’s been no end of trouble. It worked one time out of about five. Finally, someone suggested I uninstall and reinstall it, and that was the kiss of death. I’ve never even been able to sign in since, despite having re-registered and reset my password when prompted.
So I’m through with Skype. The question is, though, how did a simple, working program get so bad? Was it “improved” to death?
Speaking of which, why does YouTube refuse to accept the fact that I prefer the old version of display? I keep resetting it and resetting it. The reset lasts for a while, and then they switch me to the new and I have to reset it all over again.
Some day I bet they’ll stop giving me the option of a reset. Oh, and they also keep sneaking in autoplay. I turn it off, they turn it back on.
To add insult to injury, before they’ll let me go back to the old version, they ask me what’s wrong. There’s even a space to fill out a longer reply than the multiple-choice answers they helpfully supply.
Ha! As though they care. I’ve been waxing more and more irate in my responses, but I very much doubt a human being sees them or gives two hoots about what I actually think.
Speaking of which (YouTube, I mean), they recommended this ice skating video for me. I don’t know why, because I haven’t watched any ice skating on YouTube recently—although maybe they’ve now advanced to spying on my TV life, because I have indeed watched some of the Olympics ice skating on TV within the last few days. The ice skating world seems to have been taken over by the same insidioius technique-is-everything-artistry-is-nothing bug that has engulfed so many other arts such as ballet, but at least in skating it’s not so strange since skating is classified as a sport. But nowadays if you can’t do your triple toe this and your quad that, you’re not going to get to prime time no matter how beautifully you skate.
Which brings us to the YouTube recommended video: ice skating star Sonja Henie filmed in 1945. I remember watching her movies on TV when I was a kid, and I loved her. Looking at it now it is astonishing how skating has changed. For example, she has what I’d call the bent-leg bent-arm esthetic so prevalent then. The line of the leg and arm are bent or curved rather than straight and stretched. But the other big change is that she barely jumps at all, and when she does it’s a single. In other words, jumping really wasn’t part of the deal back then.
But what she does do she does very well, in particular these fast little runs on her toes, and her spins. Ah, how that woman could spin! I don’t think anyone can compare. See what I mean:
Really different than the figure skating at the olympics, which I’ve been obsessively watching. Finally, a show I like on TV!
It’s to imagine current skaters doing the tippy tie run, it would be interesting if someone incorporated it. But maybe it’s too cute for our heroic times.
Skype is probably like windows. Every time MS comes out with a new improved version, it is more bloated, has more features and is more difficult to install and get working. The more features, the more there is to go wrong. I’m an engineer and we joke that if it isn’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features.
Yeah, Skype took a noticeable dive in quality after Microsoft got their mitts on it, and this is typical. Not only does the program not work as well as it used to, but the interface is worse than it used to be.
I often lament that many of the improvements in human-computer interface that were made by companies like IBM and Microsoft in the 1980s has been abandoned. I blame Photoshop in part, because once the displays became capable of supporting higher resolutions and lots of colors, people became creative in ways that almost always made things worse.
Nowadays UI and UX (user interface and user experience) seems to be dominated by a bunch of art majors who have no idea what they are doing, but are darned proud of their work.
And Microsoft, who should know better, and used to, is among the worst of them.
And skype includes the hook to allow remote control of another’s computer trying to edge out TeamViewer or Radmin I imagine.
MeToo software.
Most of this can be solved with fully customizable UI.
PC games already have it, some of the time.
Neo, I told you some time ago about how great Sonja Henie is (was?). She seemed so natural and so in love with skating. I can’t recall the exact circumstances of my note but you might be able to find it.
Neo, she ‘s making me dizzy !!! I can t take it !
At last, an ice skating post!
Your observation is correct, Neo, skating has degenerated into ‘technique is everything’. Meaning, ‘jump technique’ is everything. ‘Artistic technique’, not so much. And, once again, a prepubescent baby has won ‘Ladies’ gold. Uggh. Although I give the Russians props for the costume design (wide tutu and padded bust) that gave Zagitova the illusion of a womanly figure. Having said that, the Canadian skater that won bronze, Kaetlyn Osmond, gave as good a ‘Ladies’ skate as is possible under this system. As Dick Button would say; ‘Good for her. Good for her!’
As for the Heine film clip, yes, she was a great skater and a great athlete, but I’m pretty sure those spins are sped up – ‘film technique’! ‘Running on toe picks’ is an inside jokes with Michelle Kwan fans, she was about the only modern skater to do it and it was probably a direct Heine influence/homage. That move at the end of the clip with the backward spiral is called a ‘Charlotte’ after an early German skating star, Charlotte Oelschlagel, who is credited with originating it. In the early 1900’s, no less! Michelle Kwan also brought that move back to modern skating and gave the credit where it was due.
For a great example of Michelle’s ‘running on toepicks’, watch her breathtaking 2001 U.S. Nationals short program.
I think the last truly ‘artistic’ skater we have seen under the current judging system was Alyssa Czisny. Check out her Dr Zhivago long program from 2009 U.S. Nationals. There has never been a better spinner. Truly sublime.
I too have been watching Winter Olympics — first time I can remember doing so with such close attention and (intermittent) emotional investment. Even the skateboarder-derived Half Pipe, though I’ve always avoided such nonsense before. The “color” commentators do a good job of selling the drama of each event.
But the Figure Skating, performed by females, is the best. I think I agree with Molly Brown, above, that Kaetlyn Osmond should have won.
Complete agreement with you about Skype – the interface was, while not optimal, operable before, but with a recent `upgrade’ it is completely crappy. Just yesterday, I tried to patch in someone for a conference call, and in spite of having both contacts in my saved list, I couldn’t for the life of me get the second person on the line… I had forgotten the Microsoft connection as well, it seems that they have a mandate for `upgrades’ – that is, make them as crappy as possible.
I loved that Sonja Henie clip.
She is a very eloquent skater and makes it look so easy. I don’t know how she (or anyone) does those spins like that without getting dizzy. My gyros almost tumbled just watching it.
I also love the outfit and hair style too. I have always loved that 1940’s hair style – the one we associate with WWII. I really wish it would come back in style. I have a photo of my own mother on her wedding day back in 1950 and she is wearing a style like that. Mom was a real looker too. (…is it okay to say that about your own mom?)
Thank you for that clip.
Now, about Skype, I can’t help you because I’ve never used it. But I have to agree with others that there is too much “fixing” of things that aren’t broke going on nowadays. I think a lot of it is option bloat and a bid toward programmers trying to keep busy in order to enhance their job security.
Sonja Henie’s spins
seemare extraordinarily fast.Start the YouTube video. Move the hand cursor to the bottom and a panel opens. In the panel, to the left of the word “YouTube,” is a settings symbol (it looks like a gear). Click it. A menu pops up. The “Speed” setting shows the default “Normal.” Click on it. Then choose “0.75” instead. The music slows down and Sonja’s motion becomes more graceful.
A lot of YouTube videos are set by default to run too fast. I think it has something to do with copyrights. Damn lawyers.
Molly Brown; miklos:
Osmond was my personal favorite this year. The others lacked the artistic finesse I prefer in skating, although of course they are good jumpers.
I also think that Lucinda Ruh could give Alyssa Czisny a run for her money in the spin department.
Yes, Neo, for sheer speed and innovative positioning Lucinda is the champ. I think she even holds a Guinness world record for it. But for sheer beauty I love that ‘I’ spin of Alyssa’s with the extended arm coming down. Just breathtaking. My daughter and I used to refer to it as the ‘spin of forgiveness’.
She frequently bobbled a jump or two putting herself out of medal contention (crushing the hopes of her legion of fans and well wishers) but then came that spin and; ‘All is forgiven, Alyssa, all is forgiven!’
Just dropping this off “for the record” – it’s a collection of Sonja Henie clips; the quality is variable (fair to poor), and the poster had no musical sense at all (no attempt to use the original sound, or cut a connected track that matched the action), HOWEVER, the second clip (0:53) shows Sonja actually dancing (no skates) and she looked very proficient to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSJMwn1QXNI
CapnRusty Says:
February 24th, 2018 at 1:58 pm
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On changing speeds:
I followed the link-chain on Neo’s “Lucinda Ruh” post supra, and encountered the dancer Daniel Ulbricht here:
http://neoneocon.com/2008/09/19/dancers-and-the-small-shall-be-tall/
Go to the last clip, of him dancing the Faun in Four Seasons, to point 0:20, drop the speed to 25%, and watch his jump. Amazing doesn’t begin to say it.