From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V5 #132 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 Tuesday, May 24 2005 Volume 05 : Number 132 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [chakram-refugees] Con 05 Seattle: There Goes The Neighborhood [cr <] [chakram-refugees] Con 05 Seattle Pre matinee Day Two [KTL Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Con 05 Seattle: There Goes The Neighborhood On Mon, 23 May 2005 10:07, Xena Torres wrote: > > Isn't it a pain when that happens? One can hardly yell after the > > departing > >person "Hey, I take it back, I'm not your friend and your writing sucks". > >Well, one can, but at the risk of making oneself appear slightly deranged. > > > > Oh my! cr you are so delightfully vicious. ;) Well, herein lies the problem, you see. Having been put in the false position of being assumed to be someone's 'friend', it's very hard to re-establish one's position as, shall we say, neutral, without over-reacting the other way. Don't say anything and the false assumption sticks; make the point that it's wrong and it immediately looks as if one is leaning the other way i.e. towards enmity. It's as if the false assumption has somehow compromised one's impartiality. Narrowed ones choices. But anyway, I'll take 'delightfully vicious' as a compliment. :) Though my comment wasn't intended as an attack on Katherine Fugate personally. > Though I don't like "Fates" I > will say Katherine was a pleasure. Very nice, very funny, and I actually > wish I hadn't missed her entire stage time, but I just had no desire for > Fate fan gushing. Though, I am VERY happy to see writer's getting so much > respect! ;) But, man, give me Chris, Steven, RJ or Paul anyday! ;) Or Rob? It's often overlooked, probably because he was exec. producer or whatever-it-was, but he also wrote episodes and his list is a very distinguished one - from Rate-a-Xena (and this includes ones he co-wrote): Sins of the Past (story), Destiny (story), The Debt I and II (story), Fins Femmes & Gems (story), Adventures in the Sin Trade I and II (story), Locked Up and Tied Down, Fallen Angel, Lifeblood, Motherhood, Who's Gurkhan, Legacy, Friend in Need (1 and 2) Which makes me think - what do you think is the finest piece of _writing_ (i.e. the best written ep) in XWP? I think off the top of my head I'd say, The Debts. cr ========================================================= 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: Thu, 19 May 2005 07:42:41 -0800 (AKDT) From: KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] Con 05 Seattle Pre matinee Day Two Additions to the first day "Quick and Dirty" report: The Renaissance Hotel is right in downtown Seattle. It has more of a feeling of an old-fashioned luxury hotel than what it is--one of them modern, monolithic, towering chain hotels that looks like a gigantic box and is filled with business people on expense accounts or tourists on package deals from airlines. I'm not exactly sure why this hotel feels different. It has to be in the details, I guess. Some indefinable air of caring and luxury that was retained when Marriot took it over. Anyway, there's a definite old-fashioned ambience about it to me, despite its boxy exterior. When I got here at 11:00 am (having gone to bed at 2:30 am and having gotten up, oh yeah, TOTALLY refreshed at 4:00 am to catch my flight to Seattle), the guy at the desk looked at my reservation and said, "Yes, you're here for the Creea event, right?" I blinked at him and said, "No, I'm here for the Xena con." He blinked at me and said, "Who's Xena?" I was so stunned that I actually answered rather loudly (and I realized later, in my old New York voice which tends to surface when I'm exhausted, angry or drunk), "Who'sXENER?! YuhdoanknowXenerWore-yuhPrinciss?" (Besides the accent, it was of course also said at light saber speed. Happily, I did not add the traditional follow up, "Whaddaya, stoopid uh summ'in?) Then I realized that the "Creea" event was probably "Crea" for "Creation" and had probably been truncated on his computer screen. I suggested that, he accepted it, we called a truce and he checked me in. Another big difference between Seattle and LA that was immediately noticeable was that we didn't "take over" either the hotel or the area the way we usually do. In both Burbank and Pasadena, we are a rather huge and undeniable presence. We're noticeable and we stick out since we're all generally on the same schedule and we tend to pack together and will all be heading over to the hall for scheduled events at the same time. There was less of this kind of "unified army" presence. I think that some of this was due to the hotel being in the downtown heart of an old-fashioned city. In Burbank, we're out by the airport and in Pasadena while we were in the downtown area, it's a driving kind of town, so there weren't really hordes of folks on the streets going about their business. And swallowing us up. And some of it was due to it being a smaller crowd-it seemed to me to be heck maybe 1/3 or so the size of a regular LA crowd. And for once there were far more gold/preferred seats than general admission seats. At least that was my perception. Another thing about this con was that the crowd was made up of less "regulars" but included both more real old timer fans and totally new ones. I bet there were a lot of relatively local people there who could easily, cheaply and quickly get to Seattle but not to LA. It was an interesting mix. I know a lot of people had really wanted to go but had already been to the January con and couldn't afford to go to another Xena/Lucy event so soon. Yesterday Sharon had asked if in the audience were three fans who had been walking over by the Starbucks by the theater the day before, one wearing a Double Dare shirt, one wearing a Xena shirt and one wearing a cowgirl hat. There was a pause and some people said that they knew who those three were but that they weren't in the audience because they were off at the Starbucks again, still looking for Lucy. Sharon grinned and said, "Well, they found her yesterday. She was the tall woman, with her hair in a bun who came up and tried to talk to them, pointing to one shirt saying, "Oh Double Dare!" and then, looking at the other shirt, "Oh-a Xena fan!" Lucy told Sharon that when she tried to talk to the fans, she felt like she was being brushed off. That they didn't really want to talk to her-they were wary of her and didn't want to get involved with her. She wondered if they were afraid she might be about to tease them for being Xena fans. There was a groundswell of amusement and laughing disbelief from the audience. Sharon said that Lucy walks around all the time without being recognized. Even by folks who might label themselves hardcore fans. We found it hilarious that they were back out there again today, still stalking Lucy after having had her right in their sights yesterday. It wasn't like she'd made a "Beep-beep" sound and zoomed away too fast to be recognized. She WANTED to talk to them. And they shunned her and walked away from her. It's the Xenaverse version of "Waiting for Godot". Sitting around wondering if she's ever going to get there. Not recognizing her when she shows. And starting the wait all over again the next day. Who knew we could be such existentialists? Okay-second day of the con. Note-I made this trip primarily to see Lucy in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. And bit the bullet (or actually, took a BIG bite out of the Visa Card) and bought tickets for all five performances. So I only went to those con events that didn't conflict with Lucy on stage. Some I was sorry to miss. Some I wasn't. Anyway, there'll be some gaps here. Hopefully reports by others will cover those things I missed. (If not, I could always pretend I had been there and make things up and post them just to stir up other people enough to make them write reports to refute mine. "That ain't the way *I* heard it, sonny!") Saturday, dawned and about five hours later, I went down to the con room. The first thing that morning was Renee's photo op. She dressed in regular clothes, (perhaps her Amazon Princess Mask wouldn't fit into her carry on bag?) and handed out a rose to everyone who let her be in their photo. The con itself started around noon with videos and short films. At 12:30, there was a question and answer with Sharon Delaney. Sharon talked about the rehearsals for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. There is a scene where Dorothy is swimming with the American Olympic Swim Team (just practicing in the pool on board). And in order to show the water, they had a flapper on each side of the stage, stretching out two, about three feet wide, stage width long swaths of gauzy blue cloth between them. They exuberantly raised and lowered the swaths at the front of the stage while Lucy and the boys did a dance behind the cloths, using the motions that you use when swimming-bent over from the waist and doing a forward crawl motion with their arms as they stomped forward, then leaning back and back paddling away. It actually worked pretty well at simulating waves in a very theatrical kind of way. Sharon said that they had tried a few ideas of how to show the dancers being in the water. One version was having the flappers turning the cloths in a double dutch style while the dancers hopped up and down over them. When they tried that, Lucy almost fell. (Of course, she was the only one jumping rope in high heels. I had an aunt who used to be able to do that. And would. Whenever we'd break out the jump ropes, it'd be, "Oh man-here she comes again". She was a little Austrian gnome, built low to the ground and wide, but boy, could that woman jump rope.) There is a featured female dancer in the show, Jane Lanier with a list of professional credits as long as all six of Kali's arms put together. She (Jane, not Kali) helped them come up with moving the cloths up and down in front of the dancers instead of making them jump over them so nobody got tangled up. That worked really well since we still saw the dancers "through" the waves. This dance was a lot of fun to watch during the show-Lucy seemed to be enjoying the goofiness of it. She really got into showing the delight of someone who thinks they're hot stuff to be swimming with the Olympic team while trying to be blase and cool about it at the same time. And then got carried away by the sheer fun of it. It's just the type of thing that would appeal to her to portray. Sharon told us that Faith Prince had been a little worried that Lucy's fans would be very enthusiastic about Lucy's performance but would perhaps not show so much appreciation for and glee over seeing the rest of the actors. (I half wonder if she didn't think we might deliberately not applaud for the other actors in order to make Lucy look better.) However, after our responses to the show last night, Faith said, "I'd take that audience anywhere!" So we done good. During the course of the play, Lucy's character Dorothy gets a boyfriend named Henry (played by Louis Hobson). He's in the cute category of guy. He looks somewhat like Rick Moranis, but a taller, more buff and less insecure character than Moranis usually plays. Henry is very centered in his nerdiness-he is WAY proud of being the conductor of the Glee Club at his college in Pennsylvania. Sharon talked about having watched Lucy and Louis rehearse a scene where their characters first realize their attraction for each other and share their first kiss. And she said that last night the scene was much hotter than it had been. It was "1000 percent more intense. I didn't see THAT kiss in rehearsal." And each show it got hotter and hotter. That was one of the real fun things about going to every performance-watching the show take shape and then transform each night into a slightly different experience due to it being live and due to the different audiences it was presented to. I'd never experienced that before. I generally go to a show once, not five times in a row. It was fun to experience this and think about how kewl it was for all those New York area fans to get to watch Lucy continue working on her part as Rizzo in Grease over the course of a month and a half or so. Sharon told us that Lucy has been working with a voice coach. She said that one day Lucy called her up and informed her, "There's dancing. (Pause.) They expect ME to dance." (Pause.) Sharon: "Have they seen you dance?" (Pause.) Lucy: "No." Sharon: (Silence). She said that Lucy is already mourning that the run is so short, that it will be all over on Sunday. This has been the best stage experience Lucy has had so far. And that has to do with the people. And also that Lucy has more experience with doing this now, so she's feeling a whole lot more comfortable. Plus, it's a comedy. And being a flapper is right up her alley. I don't remember what the question was but Sharon answered that Lucy did a lot with her kids here in Seattle. They went out on boats to see sea creatures, they took a ride on the monorail. Sharon asked again today if the three women who shunned Lucy in the street were in the audience. Someone yelled out that they were too embarrassed to show up now. (Cracked me up.) Someone asked about the movie and Sharon said there's still no movement on it. And then her time was up. Katherine Fugate was next. Oh, by the way-the minute I sat down yesterday, I noticed that I was sitting right behind a list friend. Yes, our very own Cheryl Ande who has been spreading wild misinformation about me which I shall reply to soon. Thel--rest assured. While Katherine considers herself my friend, my feelings on the subject have not changed any. I tapped Cheryl on the shoulder and she turned and gave me a big smile and then roared out, "I know why you're here K.T.-You're here primarily to see Katherine Fugate, your favorite Xena writer." I gave her a little smirk. She continued on about how she knew how much I loved Fates and I was there just for Fugate. Finally, knowing I couldn't just sit there like a coward and not reply, when ONCE AGAIN, someone just HAD to challenge me on how much I dislike the decimation of Xena's character in Fates, I said "Yeah, right. I'm going to love the only ever ep where Xena gives up and dies just because some boy wants her to." Well, the two people on either side of me "moved away from me on the bench", as Arlo Guthrie so movingly sang about the murderers shunning the litterer in "Alice's Restaurant." I don't think either of them spoke to me all weekend. I suspect they just MAY be Fates fans. They played a video showing scenes from Fates before Katherine came out. I got up to walk to the back since I had tickets for Lucy's matinee performance and sure as heck didn't want to be seen committing the sin of walking out on Fugate. I figured I might be tackled and dragged back to my seat screaming. So I left under cover of dark, timing my footsteps to the muted sniffles of the happily video watching Fates fans. And went out into the hall and peeked around at the pictures for sale (always a pleasure) until the video ended. I went back inside after Katherine came out because I knew the first question would be about the movie. And it pretty much was. But first Katherine talked about the amazing thing of seeing what she had thought up now existing on screen. "I just sat in my room and wrote it". That was an interesting comment. That it once existed only in her mind, and now it's real and palpable and. . . there. (Kind of like Oakland.) Oh wait-NOT like Oakland because with Fates, there's a there there. Or is there? Hmmmm. I think it IS like Oakland! She talked about how amazing it was to hear the words from her journal coming out of Gabrielle's mouth. And then I'm not exactly sure why, but the next line in my notebook says "Am I meant to tap dance." That's definitely what it says, every word is amazingly legible. However, why it's there, what it means, what it refers to, eludes me. On to the movie. The movie is once again in Limbo. (The Limbo of the Xena movie has more levels than Dante's hell.) They are at an impasse. She feels that she wrote a beautiful, strong, beautifully told story. And she wants that story filmed. (She laughed at herself a little bit and demurred about praising her own work too much.) The sticking point right now is the money for production. The studio does an analysis and figures in production costs and marketing and distribution and all that stuff. And the movie she wrote is a big one that will take a lot of money to make. And the production cost is more than they want to pay, using their budget formula that assesses costs against profit. She said, "It's us vs. them. Ten million dollars is between us." Of course we immediately yelled out that we can cover that. (We crack me up sometimes. Grin.) She said she can rework the script some. She can take out some things to make it fit. If they make the movie, it will be filmed in New Zealand. Part of the problem is that they have to start from scratch because everything was sold off after the show ended. So they have to remake all the costumes and rebuild all the sets. She said that she wished she had more forward momentum to share with us. "Everyone knows there's a market for the movie. Everyone wants to make it." She talked about the movie Carolina which she wrote being two million dollars short and that they had to shut down production for a while. Which resulted in them losing some actors, losing their forward momentum and having to do things differently than they had planned. And she said, "With Xena, you can't just go to the local Walmart and buy a pair of sweatpants and go, "Just put them in that-that looks good." Katherine is a good oral storyteller. I like how she makes a joke work through using her voice to "act" out the situation she's describing. She said the "That looks good " part in a kind of hopeful, optimistic, fake innocent way, with a tone that was obviously trying to make the best of a hopelessly bad situation. And hoping that whomever she was talking to would accept it. Then it was time to go to Lucy's matinee. Since I'm primarily here to see Lucy in Gents, I took myself off to the theater. Oh pardon me-the "theatre". And that was the end of the pre-matinee events at the con. I'm writing this on the plane flying home to Alaska and as it gets later and later and we get further and further north, it gets lighter and lighter out until shortly after midnight we are back in daylight again. How nice to be home. 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: Mon, 23 May 2005 08:48:58 -0700 From: "Xena Torres" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Con 05 Seattle: There Goes The Neighborhood >But anyway, I'll take 'delightfully vicious' as a compliment. :) Though >my >comment wasn't intended as an attack on Katherine Fugate personally. Oh, of course. ;) >Or Rob? Um, no, Rob wasn't a WRITER on Xena. He was the brilliant idea man. He's on a whole different level. Rob is as much a god to me as Lucy. ;) That's why I just think it's so cool they are married. And why I am HITTING myself that I didn't get to get his auto, but I was trailing Lucy with my camera. Tee hee. ;) ROB'S THE MAN! >Which makes me think - what do you think is the finest piece of _writing_ >(i.e. the best written >ep) in XWP? I think off the top of my head I'd say, >The Debts. Ditto. Fro the quality of the actual words, yeah, "The Debt." " They say you're a dangerous woman." "Well they're right." "That's my piece of meat you're reaching for." "Run to your master...puppy." Just SOOOOOO many great lines in those eps! BATTLE ON XENA! Xena Torres: Warrior Writer http://www.geocities.com/bitchofrome "And most importantly, I've learned that the heart can betray, but the sword never lies." - Eve "Heart of Darkness" ========================================================= 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 #132 **************************************