Audiobook Review: Beautiful on the Outside by Adam Rippon

When Adam Rippon became the media darling of the 2018 Winter Olympics, it was because he made the decision to soak in the experience of the Olympics rather than pushing to win the gold medal. At 28, he knew that was likely not possible. But what he didn't expect was that despite not going home with a gold medal, Adam Rippon really was the winner of the 2018 Olympics. He was joyful and sassy and shared every exciting moment with his fans.

Adam's sass has become his trademark personality trait, but sass can quickly come off as bitchiness if you're not careful. The reason his sass never comes off as bitchy in this book or in his life is because Adam is not a catty gossip. If he is talking smack about anyone, it is only himself. The only time he speaks overwhelmingly negatively about people in this book are when he describes the actions of a possessive, borderline abusive ex-boyfriend, when he describes the horrible behavior of his former coach Nikolai Morozov, and also when he discusses the manipulative behavior of Mike Pence when he tried to have a meeting with Adam before the Olympics. But as you learn in comedy, always punch up, not down. He spoke truth to power in those moments and used the rest of the book to be both hard on himself and to give himself some grace.

Verdict: I wanted to be BFFs with Adam before reading this and I want to be even more so now that I've read what an amazing, hardworking, honorable man he is -- despite the Khardashian-like trashiness he tries to portray himself as in front of the cameras. That facade is all a fun ruse, a joke he even lets the public in on, but if you don't know a lot about him, doesn't always translate for those who see him on TV in small doses. Also, other than missing out on the included photographs in the physical book, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook instead of the physical book because, of course, Adam narrates it himself.

My only criticism of this book is more a commentary on our culture. All I could think about when I was listening to the audiobook is how much the public would not allow or excuse Adam's behavior in a female skater. She WOULD come off as bitchy and ungrateful and be expected to not show any sort of humor or emotion. So as much as I love Adam, I also recognize that loving this persona that he has created would only be granted to a man and not to a woman.


Beautiful on the Outside by Adam Rippon
Published: October 15, 2019
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 256
Audiobook length: 8 hours, 19 minutes
Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adults/Skating Fans/ LGBTQIA + identifying and allies
Disclosure: Audiobook purchased with my Libro.fm credits, which supports The Brain Lair Bookstore

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What Would Brian Boitano Make? Fresh and Fun Recipes for Sharing with Family and Friends by Brian Boitano

As a figure skater and Olympic gold medalist, Brian Boitano traveled the world for competitions and soon became fascinated with the cuisines of other counties. So when he hung up his skates and retired from competitive skating, he began exploring his love for food in his own kitchen.

Inspired by the recipes he created on his cooking show, the food in What Would Brian Boitano Make? is sophisticated yet simple and accessible. I especially love that every recipe in this book is accompanied by a  heartfelt story to explain what inspired it. Yes Boitano was heavily inspired by his travels, but people inspire his food just as much as his travels do, often using his friends and family as his muse in the kitchen.

While I ran out of time to try any of the recipes in this book because I checked it out at the library and there was another person who had it on hold, there were a few that I was looking forward to trying, such as:

• White wine sangria
• Sauteed vegetable and quinoa salad
• Grilled corn, jicama, and bean salad
• Grilled flank steak with arugula gremolata
• Horchata rice pudding

 I have to admit, I first started watching What Would Brian Boitano Make? on the Food Network because I assumed it would be a train wreck, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the guy can really cook and he was actually pretty funny on camera. I'd have to say for being an extension of his show, this cookbook is quite successful. There's some recipes from the show, but then there's also some new recipes and also stories that I hadn't heard before. I don't think I'd actually buy the book to have in my personal collection, but I also didn't feel like I'd wasted an hour of my life looking through the recipes and reading the stories that accompany them.


What Would Brian Boitano Make: Fresh and Fun Recipes for Sharing with Family and Friends
Published: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Lyons Press
Pages: 256
Genre: Cookery
Audience: Adults
Disclosure: Library Copy

Reflections of an Olympic Figure Skating Season

As the Olympics began this year, I was skeptical that any of the four figure skating events would inspire or delight me. As a long time figure skating fan, my passion for the sport has waned quite a bit in the past few years. I used to know the name of every skater from every country and I could rattle off the Olympic medalists in each of the four disciplines from every Olympics since 1976.

I can't do that anymore.

Skaters' names from the past elude me and skaters' names of the present strike no familiarity. The 2006 Torino Olympics were a huge disappointment in terms of stand-out performances so I was expecting Vancouver to be the same. I assumed my passion for figure skating had ebbed.

But Vancouver surprised me. Rather than holding back as so many skaters did in Torino, everyone seemed to skate with wild abandon. Say what you will Evgeni Pluschenko, but Evan Lysacek was brilliant. His jumps were smooth, his footwork was sharp, and his choreography perfectly timed.

The ice dancing event this year was by far the best in Olympic history. Nowhere in the scope of the competition was there outcry over the corruption of the judging panel, and for the first time a North American team won gold and silver. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, along with Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States skated two of the most inspiring Olympic performances I've ever seen. I never wanted to be a Canadian so much in my life as I did the night they won their gold medal and the entire arena swelled with pride and emotion as everyone sang "O Canada" together.

The ladies event did not dazzle me as much as the other disciplines (which is a first for me as the ladies event what I used to always look most forward to) but what it lacked in bedazzlement, it made up for in emotion as Joannie Rochette, only days after experiencing the death of her mother, skated to a bronze medal finish. The strength she found to pull off a performance like that was so heart-wrenching and I was equally touched by Scott Hamilton's commentating through his own tear-filled eyes.

So while my love of this sport may have subsided over the years, it will never fully go away. The Olympics will always bring out a very opinionated side of me that will suck me right back into the world of a passionate skating spectator. I'm already setting my DVR for 2014 in Sochi.

It's not the skaters, it's the scoring system

Now that we are a few days into the Vancouver Olympics, and we are a day away from crowning a new (hopefully, as in, not a repeat) Olympic men's champion, I can't let this opportunity go by without giving some of my own colorful opinions to the proceedings. Think of me as a much younger, better looking, and more comprehendable version of Dick Button (without the gold medals and skating experience of course).

In my previous post where I lamented about the absence of Michelle Kwan at these games, I think I may have unfairly snubbed some really talented skaters that are competing this year. But I think there's a reason why skating hasn't moved me in a really long time and it has nothing to do with the lack of heart, talent, and passion these skaters possess and everything to do with the new scoring system.

Don't get me wrong, I was the first person who cried foul in 2002 when Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were robbed of gold only to be given a band-aid remedy of awarding dual gold medals to make up for the corrupt back-alley dealings that had been happening for years in skating. Scores "awarded" under the 6.0 system more often than not had very little to do with what was happening on the ice. So when the system was completely scrapped in favor of a new "code of points" I was hopeful that this new system would give dignity back to this beautiful sport.

But what it gave back in dignity it took away in variety. When I watch skating now, all I can see is a system that has created robots out of skaters. In an attempt to collect the most points possible, every skater is doing the same moves, the same spins, and the same combinations. Nowhere was this more evident than in the men's short program last night. Every program was completely mapped out the same way. EVERY. SINGLE. PROGRAM. Each man jumped three times in a row, did a footwork sequence, a spin, a footwork sequence, then another spin. There was a tad bit of variety in the order of the spins and footwork sequences, but I just couldn't believe how blatantly these men were getting the jumps "out of the way" rather than incorporating them into the program in a place that they were suited to the music. I lost count the number of times I saw men completing their first jump what seemed like before the music had even started. There was no intro to the program. It was "start music, do some crossovers, JUMP!"

So last night's event epitomized for me what's left me feeling cold about figure skating in recent years. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful skaters out there who do a great job with the hand they've been dealt, but on the whole, when the program's over, I'm left feeling nothing about the actual skating. I feel happy, excited, or disappointed for the skater who does well or who falters, but the actual program makes me feel nothing.

There were two exceptions so far in this Olympics though. The Chinese pair of Pang and Tong, who won the silver medal on Monday night and who, if they hadn't been in 4th place after the short program, might have defeated the sentimental favorite of Shen And Zhao due to their PERFECT, heartfelt, and musical routine to "The Impossible Dream." I was absolutely spellbound by this team. They weren't just throwing elements into their program to collect points, they had actually put thought into what moves go with the highs and lows of the music.

The other skater was Daisuke Takahashi's short program last night. It was musical, innovative, and it stood out from the other men.

Going into the long program though, Evan Lysecek is my sentimental favorite being from the U.S. and seeing as how he redeemed himself from the disaster of his short program four years ago in Torino, but at this point, I am rooting for anyone with a name other than Evgeni Pluschenko. Not only is his skating painful to watch (other than what he does in the air), but his bad attitude leaves me wishing for Tonya Harding to be lurking somehwhere nearby. Whether it's Lysacek or Takahashi (who are virtually tied with Pluschenko even WITHOUT a quad/triple combination), nothing would make me happier than to see that smirk wiped off his face.

Even with the flaws of the new scoring system, I have to say, that despite some needed improvements, it has helped the sport. No longer do talented skaters have to "wait their turn" in order to be a champion. Skaters are no longer judged before they even step on the ice, but instead are assessed on each individual performance and each element they complete. If I had my wish though, it would be to find a way to blend the originality of the programs under the 6.0 system with the fairness of the new system. If we could do that, then skating would be a sport worth getting excited about again.

Show Me the Kwan

I didn't think I was going to be excited about the Olympics this year. I've always been a Winter Olympics junkie (well not always - they didn't interest me until 1994 when the whole Nancy & Tonya scandal was ensuing, but it made me a long-time figure skating fan) but this is the first Olympics that has experienced the full-on absence of Michelle Kwan.

Michelle has always been my favorite skater. I have rooted for her since the 1994 Nationals when, in the wake of the world's attention on Nancy and Tonya, Michelle jumped to second place and was named an alternate to the Olympic team after Nancy was granted a place despite her injury. She was a beacon of hope in a sport that had been besmirched by goons and hit men.

In 1998 she was the odds-on favorite to win the gold medal in Nagano after a near-perfect performance at the U.S. Nationals. But she piqued too soon and, in heartbreaking fashion, watched her wunderkind teammate, Tara Lipinski, steal the gold from her hands.

Salt Lake City was supposed to be her year of redemption, but the pressure of expectations and a fall on a triple flip in the long program sent her from first place to third place. My heart broke for her a second time.

A lack of a gold medal certainly did not hurt Michelle's career. Nine national and five world titles to her name, she was deemed "the greatest skater never to win gold" and is probably the most beloved skater to ever grace the sport. But, as the world watched her 3rd attempt at redemption fizzle away in Torino, my heart broke for her once again.

She didn't need a gold medal. She just deserved it. Her heart, passion, ability, and perseverance deserved it.

So as I sit down to watch the pairs short program tonight, I'm going to try really hard to be excited about figure skating again. But with Michelle's permanent absence from figure skating now written in stone, all I can think about is, "Where is the heart, the passion, the perfection?"

I wish there were more performances like this in today's skaters:



I'm just hoping that some skaters at the 2010 Olympics find a way to inspire me again.