September 2003

Name: Renee
E-mail: private
Subject: Danbury show
Date: Sept. 2, 2003

Message: Hi all! Here's some more information about the show in Danbury, Conn. that Katia will skate in:

Sat. Oct. 4, 2003
Tickets: $100, $125 and $150
VIP tickets $250(includes special seating and reception with the stars)

The show benefits the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund.

Skater list:
Viktor Petrenko
Brian Boitano
Katia
Kazakova/Dmitriev
Ilia
Evgeni Plushenko
Tim Goebel
Elena Sokolova
Fumie Suguri
Grushina/Goncharov
The acrobats Besedin/Polischuk

Thanks for the info.
Su-jan.

Name: wahs_02_byui
E-mail:
Subject: daira
Date: 9-3-03

Message: About the Mother's Day Special I watched it for the first time a couple weeks ago because I was in Utah visiting my aunt and then went up to Idaho to go to college. However, my thoughts where that Katia and Daria did a beautiful job and if Sergei could have watched he would be very proud of both Katia and Daria.

Name: Jeannine
E-mail: Toddfriedman1@aol.com
Subject: G&G Chat Boatd
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003

Message: Just want to thank Laurie for posting ticket info for Nov 19 Sow in Trenton. I purchased tikets today!! This web site is a pleasure to visit. Do you think Katia might be moving back to CT?

Jeannine

Name:
E-mail: sesamekitty2002@msn.com
Subject: videos
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003

Message: The videos won't show the pictures but the music and the voices can be heard. Does anyone else have same problem?

I have uploaded another version of the DivX Codec.

VIDEO SECTION

Version 4.x might solve your problem. Please let me know if the problem still occurs - please include the following information: Windows version, which browser / version do you use, etc.
Su-jan.

Name: Jessica
E-mail: private
Subject: Katia and Ilia moving back to CT?
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003

Message: Hi Su-jan,

I know that any rumours of Katia and Ilia moving back to CT are
unconfirmed until now. However, I had to smile to myself when I read
about this as I have always wondered how long Katia (and Ilia) would
last in Los Angeles. In my opinion, it always seemed like the wrong
city for them and I have wondered if they feel out of place there. I
wanted to share my thoughts, but let me say first that I do not intend
to speak ill of Los Angeles or of Angelenos themselves. I lived in Los
Angeles for six years and found it to be a great city due to wonderful
food, limitless cultural options (film, museums, concerts, etc.), and
because there was ALWAYS something to do. I also made great friends
there. But there are particular reasons why I think that Katia (and
maybe Ilia) might not like living there :

1) Katia has grown up with seasons. She even seems to love seasons as
she speaks a lot of them throughout her book "My Sergei" (Remember p.
272 in the hardback? "The weather was beautiful, and at sunset the red
sun painted the white snow a fiery pink with its rays. It was so
lovely...I was thinking, Why on such a great day, in such gorgeous
weather, is [Sergei] not here?"). Los Angeles has a relatively mild
climate and virtually no seasons. In fact, the city is blanketed in
smog year-round so you can only see the neighboring mountains maybe a
few days of the entire year. She might be missing the changing of the
seasons.

2) Katia does not seem to like driving - she admits to not being a great
driver, she had a (likely preventable) car accident in Moscow, and it
seems as if she usually preferred Sergei to be the driver. In Los
Angeles you cannot get anywhere without a car and traffic is very heavy
and dangerous, both on the freeways and off. I also imagine that coming
from Simsbury, she was used to getting around relatively quickly,
whereas in L.A. you need to leave plenty of time to get from point A to
point B. Though I have never been in Moscow, I imagine that while it
might be traffic-congested, you could more easily get around on the
subway (L.A. has a small and rather incomplete subway system). But I
think that a few years of light Simsbury traffic might have "spoiled"
Katia.

3) Katia has grown increasingly private in the last few years. Los
Angeles is more of a "celebrity crazy" kind of town and all celebrities
are fair game for "autograph-hounding", picture-snapping, and all that.
Now, I don't know how recognizable Katia and Ilia are in Los Angeles,
but if they are ever recognized I doubt that people leave them alone. I
remember reading somewhere that one of Katia and Sergei's favorite
places to eat was a quiet sushi restaurant in Simsbury where "nobody
bothered them" (or something like that). I do not know if they can find
something like that in L.A. - yes, there are plenty of nice, quiet
restaurants, but celebrities are always recognized (possibly because
fans are always on the lookout).

4) This one is purely personal opinion and based solely on personal
observation - not proven fact. In Los Angeles personal looks are very
important (having the "right" hair, the "right" body, with a larger
percentage of the population [including teenagers!] resorting to
cosmetic surgery: chin implants, tummy tucks, etc.) This type of
attitude starts early and there is a lot of pressure early on even for
little girls (we're talking elementary school!) to wear designer brands,
makeup, high-heeled shoes, etc. With Daria now attending school in Los
Angeles, it does not seem that Katia would be the type to condone this
type of behavior on her. Once again, I do not know Katia and I might be
completely wrong, but it just SEEMS to me that she would not like for
Daria to have all this type of superficial pressure growing up. I think
Katia must have, at the very least, noticed that there is a big
difference between kids in Simsbury schools and Los Angeles schools.

5) Finally, and this one is more for Ilia - I think I read somewhere
that the reason Ilia moved to L.A. was to pursue a career as an actor.
Now, don't get me wrong, Ilia might be talented as an actor (I never saw
"Center Stage"), but talented aspiring actors are "a dime a dozen" in
Los Angeles. The city is filled with more people aspiring to act than
there are roles available. Even well-known actors go through dry
spells. Save for a few lucky ones who make a career out of acting, most
everyone finds that the work is relatively limited, the competition is
enormous (just because of sheer numbers), and that acting as a career
can be an elusive goal. Even for a gold-medal skater! I do not know
how much work Ilia has gotten since "Center Stage", but he must have
realized by now that a career as an actor will be much, much harder to
achieve than his Olympic gold!

I'd love to hear if anyone (Angelenos or not!) agrees or disagrees with
me. Once again, I love Los Angeles and miss it like crazy, but does
anyone else also think that L.A. is just not a right "fit" for Katia and
Ilia?

Name:
E-mail: sesamekitty2002@msn.com
Subject: videos
Date: 4 Sep 2003

Message: Thank you. It's works!

Glad to hear!
Su-ja.

Name: S.C.
E-mail:
Subject:
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2003

Message: Hi Su-jan please don't include my email address but I wanted to add to the
chat board that

Last month I heard from a reliable source that Gordeeva and Kulik were
planning on moving to New Jersey permanently --bye S.C.

For your information

As I've finally started to convert my VCR tapes onto DVD some G&G videos are now available on the G&G corner. They might not be of the best quality (small size of 160 x 120), however it does give you an impression of the programmes Ekaterina and Sergei skated to. Just click on the following link to view the videos.

VIDEOS

Have fun.
Su-jan.

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