From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V2 #84 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Monday, April 1 2002 Volume 02 : Number 084 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] <> ["Cheryl Ande" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 22:54:21 -0500 From: "Cheryl Ande" Subject: [chakram-refugees] <> # # # # # # # # # Well I didn't see my season 3 tapes this weekend because I got my first DVD player and watched one of the DVDs I had for a while and the FIN DVD. The two Hercules movies which co-starred Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor are pretty good. The first Amazon Women is notable of course for the introduction of Lucy Lawless. She is really good as Larisa and you can see why RT said he always wanted her for Xena. She really does radiate danger and power in a small part and a hint of her comic timing in her scene with Anthony Quinn. Roma Downey isn't bad as the Amazon queen - she doesn't project the kind of raw physical power as LL but she brings a nice sense of quiet authority to the role. Also in small parts is Rose McGiver, the actor who played Hower, and I think also the actress whp played Chilapa was one of the Amazons. This is also one of the times Iolaus gets killed (of course in the movie he is about to be married and that is a certain death sentence). Lost Kingdom co-stars ROC in a much bigger part and I think we can say this is her audition for young Gabrielle. She exhibits a lot of the quirky charm of the first season Gabby but also demonstrates some of her dramatic talents in the latter part of the movie. She starts as the chatty kid and winds up the mature queen. She also has auburn hair (about the color she had in Pasadena maybe that's her nature color or my TV's color tint is off). Robert Tabor is very amusing as a slave who just loves his servitude and the three squares it provides him. Some precursors to Xena - ROC's costume in the first half looks very much like her Little House On The Prair dress of the sason 1 only rattier and her costumes seem to get briefer as the movie progresses. Also her armour as queen looks a bit like Xena's. The FIN Dvd is very good. I haven't watched it all with the commentary but what I heard sounds interesting - wht I did hear was LL and ROC discusing Xena's relationship with Akemi and how Gabby reacted to it - LL said basically she has sprung another girlfriend on Gabby and ROC said that Gabby may have felt a little trepidation about how much Xena loved Akemi but she played it basically as Gabby wanting to comfort Xena and not play up the jealousy aspect because it was an emotion that is unattractive for a sympathetic character and there wouldn't have been time to deal with that aspect of Gabby's feelings in the script. There is some teasing by Lucy about how noble Gabby is and ROC comes back as saying that's how she plays non-jealousy. The recut version is much better seen as an uninterrupted movie. It flows really well - much better without the commercials and the annoying ticker at the bottom of the picture as shown on Oxygen. The documentary appears to be the same one that is in the Gold Kit 5 from Creations but I didn't watch yet. Anyway I would recommend buying the DVD or tape if you liked FIN, the director's cut is I think now superior to to the orginal episode. I still, however, have reservations about the new ending - I still think seeing Gabrielle alone on deck is the more powerful ending. CherylA ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 23:07:18 -0500 From: Mirrordrum Subject: [chakram-refugees] Aphrodite's love shack unearthed thanks to explorator: Ancient brothel found under Olympic equestrian site Preparations for the 2004 Olympics are being hampered by the discovery of an ancient brothel. The site earmarked for the equestrian events has turned out to be a treasure trove of antiquities, including a temple to the love goddess Aphrodite, which experts say doubled as a bordello. Archaeologists say they've started nearly 20 separate digs on the site, about 15 kilometres southeast of central Athens. Architects, meanwhile, are being forced to continually redesign the venue since the widespread excavations began in January. The venue is still on schedule, according to project managers. But any more major discoveries, such as the ancient brothel, could put the timetable in jeopardy. Any problems at the site could spill over to other planned venues. The International Olympic Committee has warned Athens planners deadlines are now so tight that even small delays could have serious consequences on the quality of the games. The IOC plans its next full inspection visit next month. The 2,500-year-old Aphrodite temple complex is significant as one of the few examples in the Athens area of activities associated with the love deity. Archaeologists have found ruins believed to be baths and massage rooms. "It was not only a spiritual place, but also one of carnal pleasures," said archaeologist Michalis Sklavos, who is taking part in the excavations. "The priestesses offered extra love to the visitors." The digs also have uncovered agricultural dwellings from the 4th century BC and Mycenaean tombs dating back 3,600 years. The finds could help provide more clues about rural life outside ancient Athens," he said. ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 20:03:49 -0900 (AKST) From: KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] FIN DVD FIN SPOILER No commentary spoilers, no details on content Reading the posts on line about the FIN DVD, I suddenly realized that I was in a place where I might actually buy it and get to get it the very day I paid for it. Loathing computers the way I do, I actually telephoned around asking about availability and price. Circuit City had it in stock ("Well, we got three left" to quote the salesboy) and they were selling it for $16.99. I then called Barnes and Noble and they were selling it for $14.99 but they didn't have any. They offered to order it for me and would have it in 5 to 10 working days. So I distinctly informed the salesman that I would be buying it from Circuit City even though it cost more since they had it on hand. And I did. And it's great! I don't own a DVD player but when I had to buy a new portable computer for our department last August, I bought one that just happens to be able to play DVDs. So last night, during one of the more torrential thunderstorms I've ever experienced, we cruised out and bought it. The thunder and lightening was incredible! As we left the shopping mall, there was this HUGE clap of thunder and then all the lights in the parking lot went dark. Way wild and waaaaay cool. We managed to get safely back to the boat. But we did get absolutely soaked racing down the dock in the pouring rain, trying to watch both our footing and the beautiful forked fingers the lightening was stabbing out in the sky. The thunder boomed so loudly, it was like a live rendition of the 1812 overture, but twice as loud. (So does that make it the 3624 overture?) Trees were shivering and rustling and the boats ripped at their moorings as their rigging twanged and banged in the heavy winds. Anything not tied down was either flying through the air or sinking in the bay. It was an absolutely perfect background for watching FIN. This was the first time I've ever watched a DVD and it didn't come with instructions. And what I really was interested in watching was the commentary, since I've already seen all the rest of the stuff. And I couldn't get the damn thing to work right. I had no idea what the commentary would be like. I thought it would be Rob, Lucy and Renee sitting around a table and talking about various things about the movie. So first I battled with the fact that a double click on "Commentary" made the screen full size which meant I couldn't access any of the controls. I did that about 7 or 8 times and was just about ready to throw the computer overboard to take its chances in the shrieking storm. So my honey CAREFULLY suggested that perhaps I should just click on "Commentary" once. I glared over and said, "I DID that already-it just makes the damn MOVIE start! It doesn't show them at all!" Finally I just gave up and figured, "Screw it! I'll just watch the damn MOVIE!" And of course when I let the movie play for more than a second, I found out that just after the music starts for the beginning credits, Lucy's voice comes out of the speaker saying, "Love that music." (Or maybe "Lovely music"-it wasn't all that easy to hear over the booming thunder and the pounding rain on the overhead.) So anyway, at that point, I suddenly realized that the commentary actually consists of the movie playing and their voice-overs talking about it as it screens. Very kewl. So we huddled tightly around the tiny computer screen, ears glued to the miniscule speakers intently listening for the tinny little voices over the chaos of the storm. After half an hour my honey suddenly asked if my computer didn't have a plug in for a head-set. Well, DUH! Boy, using the furken headset sure made it easier to hear what they were saying! It struck me that since Lucy can be so goofy at times, watching the commentary was kind of like watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. I REALLY wish they had shown the backs of Lucy's, Rob's and Renee's three little heads in the lower right corner of the screen like MST3 doeS. That woulda been neat. The parts I enjoyed the most are where they talk about what each one thought the scene was about, what each one wanted from the scene and what each one was doing to present what they thought the scene should show. There were times when all three of them had different ideas of what was going on. It was fascinating to listen to. Lucy really is one joking blabbermouth. She talks a lot and she talks loudly and if somebody else starts talking when she's talking, she just continues. And it's very clear that Rob and Renee have both learned to just let her finish and then THEY can say what they want. I put it to the scourge of being the class clown. People with that personality just tend to be boisterous and loud, just because people respond to what you say and laugh and it makes you feel so good and you just get all juiced up and excited. It's always a party. And sweet ol' Lucy is definitely in that category. And I don't mean this as a slam, it's just a comment. Why, some of my best friends are class clowns... But she was also interested in what Rob and Renee had to say and would ask them questions about what they had said or about scenes that they were involved in. She asked Renee about how she played some scenes, where she was working from, and asked Rob if he was satisfied with what he had gotten in some scenes. And sometimes he was but sometimes he wasn't' It was kind of sad to listen to Rob talk about running out of time for some of the things he wanted to do. Some of the scenes were missing pieces he had hoped to shoot but didn't have time to get and some scenes were just not shot at all because he knew he wouldn't be able to use them in the 84 minutes he was allotted in TV time. Like the Debt, FIN should have been a movie and not had that damn arbitrary time restriction. It was pretty obvious that Lucy and Renee hadn't seen the director's cut before and they were surprised to hear that some of the dialogue and visuals were not shown during the regular series ending. Lucy was interested in what had been dropped and seemed sorry to hear that certain things had been chopped out. Renee seemed interested more in a director's way-she was very conscious of how hard it is to get what you see in your head on the screen. Of course, she's very aware of this, since she's directed a couple of shows herself. Lucy and Renee joked around a lot about various things that had happened during the shoot. Lucy complimented Renee on her acting and on how beautiful she looked in some of the scenes. They talked about the other actors very graciously and generously also, and Lucy and Rob particularly praised Michelle Ang. They laughed at some of the more over the top dramatic moments and joked about the Kiwi accents on the samurais. Lucy criticized herself a number of times. She was unhappy with some of her acting and also with the way some of the shots showcased her less flattering side-mainly her butt during the fight scenes. Lucy and Renee also talked about their craft, but just by talking about it to each other, not by announcing that they were about to discuss "ACTING". The final frustration of the night came for me when just as Xena died, the computer suddenly bleated out that it was about to die too, from lack of energy. Due to the storm, we didn't want to plug the boat in since we didn't want to chance the electronics blowing out. So I was working from the computer battery. And that damn thing only lasts an hour. *sigh* Woke up to a clear day, so plugged in the boat and the computer and finished watching it this morning. I enjoyed it greatly. I PRAY they do a commentary on the Debt-that would be tooooo fine! I feel that those of us who love (or at least appreciate) FIN will enjoy this commentary very much. And those of us who hate FIN-well surely they wouldn't be buying it anyway. Why would they? If I hated it, I sure wouldn't spend any money on it. I got aggravated enough trying to watch it when I LOVE FIN-gods, I can't imagine how P. O'd I would have been last night if I'd hated it. KT Commentary commentator ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V2 #84 *************************************