From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V5 #124 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 Sunday, May 15 2005 Volume 05 : Number 124 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] double dare [Lilli Sprintz ] [chakram-refugees] Quick and dirty Seattle report [KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] double dare thank you all of you who posted about double dare showing both in chicago and now on pbs. i've got my calendar marked for may 31st. Lilli ========================================================= 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: Sat, 14 May 2005 02:33:57 -0800 (AKDT) From: KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] Quick and dirty Seattle report First, it's very strange to be at a con not in L.A. But very good to me because I personally have always enjoyed Seattle. I like old American cities very much, those cities that grew up before the horseless carriage came into general use. I like that those cities are compact, filled with walking people and buzzing with life. I do not see this in either Burbank or Pasadena. The hall is quite a bit smaller than Burbank so the con has a nice intimate feel. There is also a very relaxed and informal feeling compared to the LA cons. I think the crowd being smaller, plus so many usual faces being present and greeting each other with great surprise and delight with multiple variations of 'Woah! I didn't know YOU were coming!" (since it's a new place and who knew how many of the LA con folks would be there?), plus the fact that there weren't any guest stars today, created a more laid back and easy-going atmosphere. The main event of the con today was really Lucy's evening show. We started around 3:30 with a "Music Video Salute" which featured bunches of fighting female sci-fi characters. Of which I recognized three-Sigourney from Alien, Angeline Jolie from what I assume was Tomb Raider and I think about three seconds of Buffy. Oh, and of course there was some Xena and just un petite soupcon of Gabrielle. So actually, I recognized five of the characters and then belatedly realized that the yellow outfit somersaulting around I had seen in ads for Kill Bill. And it wasn't somersaulting around by itself--someone was inside it whom I assume was Uma Thurman. So I "got" six, but there were many more characters but I had no idea of who they were. I also didn't know the music. (Nothing like a tightly detailed report, eh?) Okay. Then Sharon Delaney came out and played old tapes of Lucy and Renee's early work. Of course, this was easier said than done. First off, as soon as they put out the lights, Sharon could no longer see the remote and so couldn't work it very well. She said something like, "Hmm-how is Renee going to see this tomorrow?" I suggested that they put a head lamp on her but my suggestion was not noted by the staff. They figured it out very shortly and the tapes began. While we were watching Renee in the one with James Garner, Sharon's cell phone rang. She glanced down at it, laughed and answered it. It was Renee. Of course many people started to laugh and yell out "Hello, Renee!" Sharon explained to Renee where she was and what she had been doing when Renee called. She then informed us that Renee was "laughing". Then some people started to demand that Sharon put Renee on speaker phone. Sharon said she didn't have a speaker function. About a dozen people began to tell her, all yelling very loudly and at the same time of course, how they got the speaker function going on THEIR cell phones. Finally, one woman yelled out that Renee should hang up and call back on this woman's phone, which did have a speaker function. That did not happen. Sharon then extracted a promise from Renee to tell us about the time that she and James Garner were filming a shot of them driving in a car and managed to hit someone walking by. Sharon assured us he was not hurt, but that it was a good story. Okay, Renee gets off the line and we go back to watching the tape. We segued into some of Lucy's early work, just one little piece of which I had never seen. (It was part of Funny Business-a "trash car" sequence.) I enjoyed this. I think Renee is going to show some more early tapes tomorrow and talk about them. Then we had a charity auction for the Make A Wish Foundation, followed at 6:00p.m. by a cocktail reception for the Gold ticket holders. VERY nice menu-salmon, duck, little chicken quiches and New Zealand lamb. Good food. And good company. We headed off en masse to walk one block down (and I mean down-our hotel is on the top of a steep hill) and about four across to the theater. We were a loud and boisterous group. Sharon had told us that they had had only one rehearsal with the orchestra, chorus and actors together, because the chorus member are volunteers who have day jobs and therefore restricted rehearsal time. She also told us that the show was "On book". Which means the actors held and read their scripts. It's quite a remarkable theater. I believe they said it was about 90 years old. Very ornate, with many Chinese themed carvings. First thing I noticed when I sat down was that the roll down curtain was painted with a picture of a dragon. And by gum, other than being tan, not green, it looked just like the Green Dragon on the flag Lao Ma made for little Ming T'ien. It was all curly and curvy with spread and sticking out limbs just like that one. Curtain rolls up. There's people skittering around on the stage in front of the standing chorus. Then out rolls Lucy. (Literally-I think she was sitting on a cart and somebody pushed her out onstage.) For a slight second, we all just looked at her. She had on a short black wig that looked just like the one she wore in the Hercules crossover, "Stranger in a Strange Land". And she had on the longest, most blatant fake eyelashes I have ever seen. Then you could hear the intake of breath from about 150 mouths (we Xena fans that would be) and then the eruption of applause and yelling. She was for the first few bars just a tiny bit shaky but settled down very soon. It was a real high to see her on stage performing again. But heck, I cannot remember what she was wearing for her entrance. It was a fun show. Faith Prince is most definitely a very seasoned theater star. Very nice voice. The men's chorus was very, very good. The featured male singers were very good to excellent. The acting was typical Broadway musical broad. And Lucy was obviously having a ball. Intermission. Then the Ming T'ien dragon curtain rolls up again. People are onstage acting away and suddenly Lucy appears from stage right. Wearing this sparkly, lovingly draping itself to her curves blue/slightly aqua shimmering gown. More (and sharper) intakes of breath. Then a barrage of mostly female hooting to show their appreciation of Lucy's outfit. (With yes, some male hooters joining in.) Of course, most of us Xena fans constantly tracked Lucy wherever she was on stage. And (Note: these comments are the result of a formal poll conducted in the bar of the hotel after our return from the show) we saw traces of Meg at times and a few quick flashes of Xena peeking through. The fascinating thing about watching Lucy constantly was noticing that she was always Dorothy-she was always in character and always doing something to show what Dorothy was thinking and feeling. She didn't just stand around waiting for her cue to come to life. Not that she was mugging mightily or trying to steal scenes from the other actors-it was just that if you were looking at her, you could see from her facial expressions and small gestures, her shifting slightly in her seat, the tilting of her head, that she was Dorothy, reacting to the people and events happening around her. One woman who mentioned Meg added that this was a smarter and less oblivious Meg. Another woman said that while a third female character did a very sexy dance, we Xena fans who were watching Lucy kept breaking into little chuckles and giggles as Lucy showed Dorothy's reaction to that woman. "I bet the dancer couldn't figure out why we thought her dance was so funny" she said. Lucy seemed joyous at the end of the play as the actors all accepted the standing ovation we gave them. And we were very good-we cheered and yelled for Faith Prince as well as for Lucy when they took their curtain calls. One of my companions wanted to join the crowd that was waiting outside the actors entrance door of the theater, so for the first time in my life, I became one of those Stage Door Janies. It was fun standing out there in the alley next to the overflowing dumpsters because as the members of the chorus came out we yelled out our thanks and congratulations for a great show. They looked startled and then very pleased. There were plenty of stage door Johnnies in among us stage door Janies and there was lots of hugging and kissing as their performing boyfriends came out into the alley. Then, finally, Luce appeared. She looked slightly startled too and then broke into a huge beaming smile. She walked rapidly down the alley smiling and nodding at people and then we lost sight of her in the crowd. Good show, great time. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow. KT ========================================================= 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: Sat, 14 May 2005 08:06:55 -0800 (AKDT) From: KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] Program for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Blurb on Lucy from the program for the show. (Embellished with one of her recent glam moody lighting head shots.) "LUCY LAWLESS (Dorothy), who is a native of New Zealand, was forged in the heat of battle as Xena: Warrior Princess. For a tiny sparrow of a woman this was no mean feat. It involved a lot of jumping off cliffs, getting punched in the head and the odd broken pelvis. On the bright side, she did have her eyebrows blown off whilst learning to breathe fire. Not content with having battled the demon baby on Xena, Lucy went off and had a few of her own, and has recently returned to American TV, starring in Locusts! last month on CBS. She started singing as a teenager but then stopped and didn't sing a note for about 10 years. Then she met Eric Vetro, who has coaxed her out of the singing closet. She played Rizzo on Broadway and thanks the 5th Avenue Theatre and David Armstrong for allowing her to share the stage with Faith, Stephen and all those gorgeous, talented men of the Seattle Men's Chorus. P.S. Thank-you Marissa Jaret Winokur for teaching me everything I know about life, and to Rob my biggest fan, I love you." ______________________________________________________ It is strongly suspected in many quarters that Lucy wrote this herself. Aside from the dry tongue in cheek tone: "Tiny sparrow of a woman", having her eyebrows blown off being considered "the bright side", the spelling of the word, "theatre", the most telling clue is the "To Rob. . . I love you" finale. Unless some gay PR publicist for the chorus has become smitten with Rob and is using this highly romantic method to tell him so, I think it's safe to say that Lucy is probably the author of this little essay. KT ========================================================= 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: Sat, 14 May 2005 16:27:22 EDT From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] XWP and Double Dare In a message dated 5/13/2005 4:08:34 AM Pacific Daylight Time, bookdaft@voyager.net writes: > Imagine my surprise when > the clip they showed was of Xena from FIN and was Zok Bell doing the > spectacular stunt of twisting through the air on fire in the red kimono. > Yep, that stunned me when I saw the movie. I'd always thought they'd used a dummy for that. Amazing seeing how Zoe prepared for and did the stunt. I laughed when, later on in the film, someone asked her if she'd done a fire stunt like that and she shook her head and said something like, "Not a full one." To think that what she did wasn't the full degree of difficulty -- oy. - -- Ife "You are what you do. You can re-create yourself every second of your life." - - Xena in FORGIVEN ========================================================= 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: Sat, 14 May 2005 16:27:23 EDT From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] More S6 ramblings.... Like CR, I'm wading through S6. Just finished the Ring trilogy. I can see why those are among his favorites. Funny, but this time around I'm even more conscious of Lucy playing another version of Xena -- two, actually -- Valkyrie Xena and Who Am I Xena. I really liked the costumes. Kills me that two of our favorite costumes -- the Amazon one and that white fur coat -- for such a brief time. Watching the eps in order again, I'm really impressed by the variety so far. In hindsight, I'm struck more by the Gabs legacy angle. When "Legacy" first aired, it seemed more an extension of season 4, with Gabs still trying to get a grip on becoming a warrior. Knowing how it all ended, it feels much more like preparing to take over for Xena, rather than self-discovery. Another difference is that I'm not watching the eps with the same sense of impending loss and nostalgia as I did the first time around. I'm grateful I've got what I do and am squeezing every ounce out every scene, rather than worrying about what I won't get to see. With distance, it's more like *a* season, not the *last* season. On those terms, I have to say it's the same damned fine roller coaster with lots of new dips. I liked the fresh faces and new settings, the way Xena so casually continues to deal with gods, the looks on her face when Gabs continues to insist on doing her own thing. And Lucy. Wow. I feel like I'm watching Xena fully developed -- totally committed to her Way, unconflicted by whatever she has to do to about the past or future, fighting every fight with even more ... heart? passion? ... than ever. Heck, this could end up being my favorite season after all. - -- Ife "You are what you do. You can re-create yourself every second of your life." - - Xena in FORGIVEN ========================================================= 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: Sat, 14 May 2005 19:28:30 EDT From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] K. Morris in Mindhunters The Variety review (May 9, 2005), of Mindhunters, starring Kathryn Morris (Najara), says-- "Filmed three years ago, and set for release more than a year ago, "Mindhunters" proves hardly worth the wait. While a report last summer that Dimension had decided to send the pic direct to vid was premature ... this ridiculous would-be thriller about FBI profiler trainess trapped in a match to the death will scare up few bodies in theaters. ... Morris emerges fairly unscathed, which isn't the case with the luckless cast partners." Boeotian ========================================================= 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 V5 #124 **************************************