From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V6 #143 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 Saturday, August 19 2006 Volume 06 : Number 143 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [chakram-refugees] OT newspaper story ["Laconia" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:34:29 -0500 From: "Laconia" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] OT newspaper story I'm glad I'm not the only one inordinately interested in all things En Zed since Xena came along. ******** - ----- Original Message ----- From: "KTL" To: "chakram-refugees" Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 8:06 PM Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] OT newspaper story > On Wed, 16 Aug 2006, Mark B. wrote: > >> My local paper carried an article out of Wellington: >> >> "Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, Queen of New Zealand's Maori >> population, died Tuesday, her family announced. She was 75. > > > respectful snip > > It was in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner too--now THAT is astounding. The > News Miner has like only one and a half pages of international news. I'm > thinking that the indigenous culture focus had something to do with > that--we're very aware of and involved in Native Nations issues up here. > > >> >> I am still amazed at how, through XWP, we learn so much about societies >> and cultures [past and present]. This article just jumped out at me! >> >> Mark > > Good point. > > It's also astounding how many strong supporters New Zealand has garnered > from Lucy being from there and from the show which so many of us consider > a gift in our lives having been produced there. > > About the only thing I ever knew about New Zealand before my obsession > with Xena was that Katherine Mansfield, one of the greatest short story > writers I ever read and Ngaio Marsh, who wrote a pretty good, always > enjoyable detective series was also from there. (And every single book of > hers I ever read said in the liner notes that she was from New Zealand and > that "Ngaio means 'flowering tree' in Mauri"). Edmund Hilary? English > dude, wasn't he? > > Anyway, so many of us have expanded our XWP obsession to include obsessing > a bit over New Zealand. We are now somewhat expert on it. (At least in our > own minds.) Some of us actually read the New Zealand Herald online (okay, > many of us just in case there's something on Lucy in it), many of us have > journeyed there who had never ever dreamt before of including that > destination on our life list. Many of us now support New Zealand charities > and take an interest in heck, just about anything En Zed. > > It's amazing how this show has enriched and expanded so many people. (And > I ain't talking physical girth here--most of us fatties were like this > before Xena came into our lives. . .) But our minds--they have become > fattier. > > 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. > ========================================================= ========================================================= 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: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:47:19 -0700 (PDT) From: "Daniel T. Miller" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Xena is Dy-No-Mite! I decided to have absolutely no expectations--except curiosity. I was very surprised. So far, it is the level of a good season 3 episode. It really does read like a leftover script. John Layman must have watched some of those episodes over and over again. I'd have to dig my previous Xena comics out of their box but this seems the best one so far. I remember some of the stories being good but with this one, it is not just the story -- it has the best pacing and tone. On Tue, 8 Aug 2006 00:02:35 -0800 (AKDT), KTL wrote: > > (This is one thing that has changed since 2003-girls didn't use to work > there-but now in 2006, there were a couple of them pacing around the store when > I got there, straightening the books and stocking shelves. It was all just > always boys before.) > I'm guessing we have manga to thank for that. Why I brought this up -- I'm predicting that someday, there will not just be Xena comics--there will be Xena comics in manga style. The two overlapping female fanbases makes this inevitable. American companies are now making fake manga -- they're not hiding it - the work is in the manga style. Last time I was in a comics shop, I saw new U.S. manga Star Trek. Meanwhile, most of those comics aimed at the Simpsons Comic Book Guy seem to get more and more creepy. > > Click on the right one of Xena. Okay-remember that posture/presentation. Now > look here: > > http://www.pigeoncote.com/lancast/lanpom.jpg > > Is there not a decided resemblance? I therefore cannot help but think of this > cover as the "Pouter pigeon Xena cover." > I saw a Looney Tunes with a pigeon that looked like that doing Mae West. Xena says "Coo!" and "Come up and see me sometime." I bought the pigeon cover because it was the only one available. > > Of the three covers I like Xena: Warrior PouterPigeon the best. > > > Having gone through the comic, I realize she's absolutely right. Having heard > her say this, it's obvious, but it never reached out and grabbed me before. The > most effort and meticulous attention is spent on the visuals. This is what is > set out to capture the viewer. (I just realized that I said "viewer" not > reader. Heh.) Which at the bottom therefore means that comic books are more > like films than they are like books. > Yes, and also theatre. And just acting - a lot of cartoonists are frustrated actors - they get to play all the parts. > > Okay, next two pages, more typical Sturm und Drang of the comic world. Big > figures, slashing action, sinking boats, attacking monsters. And then when you > turn that page over-one picture takes up both sides of the next two pages. It's > a close up of a guy trumpeting out and pointing to, "Xena, Warrior Princess!!" > And on the right page is a drawing of the zaftig Xena and a marching Gabrielle, > both looking so stiff and "presented" that it appears they might have just been > carted out of Madame Tussauds' wax museum and set on board the ship. > Yes, that seemed very Victorian tableau like to me. I love the big s*** eating grin on the guy's face when he says his line. I think that because he really is speaking more to the audience than his captain. > This start reminded me very strongly of the teaser for the show. It had that > feel. > > Next couple of pages, Xena fights, Xena makes smart alecky comments as she > fights, Gabrielle fights and chats with Xena, Xena whips the chakram out (and > in the comic, it goes, "Wiff Wiff Wiff" instead of "Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh") and Does sound less dramatic - more like bike wheel spokes. > in the next couple of pages, the hydra headed sea monster eats Xena. She's > giving out muffled protests in his head and then we see her sword slicing up > through its skull from the inside out. Cut to commercial-well, an advertising > page in the middle of the comic. It takes a bit to figure out what the heck > this is a picture of, but I suddenly realize it's the Lone Ranger, inexplicably > wearing his mask just above his belly as if it were a fanny pack. There is a > new Lone Ranger comic book coming out apparently. More point to publisher Dynamite. Their ads are less obtrusive and do seem like commercial breaks at the end of scenes. I've tried some comics --- uggh -- right in the middle of a scene --- Wayan Brothers movie ads --- shudder. And more points to do the Lone Ranger. (I bought Buckaroo Banzai 1 the same week and saw from that publisher for a new Cisco Kid. Maybe it is a trend. I'm tired of the plethora of boring and gross, grim and gritty comic book heroes.) Hey, now that Xena and the Lone Ranger have the same publisher, we might have a team-up. Okay, more likely -- We see Ash/Darkman teamup ads in the back of this comic book. Gee, what do the series Darkman, Army of Darkness, and Xena:WP all have in common? :~) > > Okay back from commercial. Xena's out of the monster, Gabrielle comes by in a > boat, a bit of snappy patter and then suddenly we get a BIG Joxer face.. He > looks almost stoned. It's a "BIG MOMENT". I'm sure they knew that Joxer, though > loathed by many in the online community, was a huge hit with the regular and > far more massive casual fandom. So the moment Joxer appears is treated kind of > like the moment Scarlett O'Hara appears in "Gone With The Wind", i.e., > ultimately (after a zoom in in "Gone With The Wind"), we get a big tight > close-up face shot. > Stoned? Yeah, that is why they hung out with Joxer so much --- he had the best "connection" -- he knew where to get the really good primo stuff. > > They spy Xena taking on Levitriol in their seeing bowl. Zeus likes the look of > the big boy and asks who he is. Someone "off page" praises him highly, telling > of his amazing deeds of strength and warrior ability. In the next panel, we see > Ares (still or also) praising Levitriol. But in a very dissonant moment, Ares > says, "Levitriol may very well be the strongest mortal in all of our lands. HE > would make a SUPERB champion." Excuse me? Ares figuring that someone else would > be a better warrior than Xena is? No way. Ares would be the one arguing for > Xena for sure. That was a real clanging off moment. > But on the same page, he is praising Xena. When Zeus lets off with, "OOOH, and Who is THAT?" he had already lost interest in Xena. I had assumed Ares was buiding up Levitriol for Zeus, since Ares expected, as we the audience expected, Xena to get rid of the brute quick. Yeah, the off-page speaking thing is a comics shorthand. > > Flip over to the next page and at the top is a close-up of Gabrielle's face as > she says, "Oops". This is superimposed over a full page drawing of Levitriol > impaled on the top of Gabrielle's staff where he landed after being tossed by > Xena. We see Zeus's hand cutting into the corner of the bottom of the page, > pointing to Gabrielle as he says, "SHE will be my champion." > > End of story. Well, end of what-act one? > > Kind of short, I thought. Didn't this seem dumb? Even for Zeus? If it was obvious it was an accident. Maybe the Act 2 twist is that Zeus has something tricky up his sleeve. > > I think this was okay. I'm not of course very objective where anything Xena is > concerned. Of course I thought it was okay. The drawings were not particularly > striking as looking exactly like or even very much like Lucy, Renee, Ted, Bruce > or Kevin. But they were of course obviously X, G, J, A and A. > Yeah, I wondered if it wasn't just the artist. If maybe the publisher did not have the right to the likeness of any of the actors. > > The last page of this book showcases covers of the new Battlestar Galactica > comic-hopefully MORE Lucy characters in new comics eventually! Yay! Xena vs. #3! Now, that comic would be a best seller! > > I suddenly realized as I was writing this and looking at the book again that > Gabrielle also has her season 1-3 hair. Perhaps the Gabfan in Clones was their > XWP expert. (Damn-even in a comic book, all I ever notice is Xena. . .) > > Right next to the Xena comics in my store was a new Evil Dead comic with Bruce > as Ash of course on the cover. Some classics just endure forever I guess. > > And on Xena's other side was the new Red Sonya comic-Red wears bubble wrap to > protect her tender parts. I giggled out loud when I saw that outfit. Just > imagine how much popping must go on when SHE fights. > Hmm, A Xena / Red Sonja team-up would be a little too obvious. Red Sonja's costume is supposed to be metal! A guy who knew absolutely nothing about female anatomy must have thought that up. Actually, there is a pretty red headed cartoonist named Wendy Pini who in her younger days, used to dress up as Red Sonja at comics conventions. Just flashed on that because I recently saw a picture of her in Sonja costume on the Mike Douglas show. Maybe she did used bubblewrap. And there were some sort of Red Sonja movies that were so bad, I know I saw one, but I can't remember what the actress playing the part wore. > I went back into the store yesterday to find that there were only two comics > left. The owner told me they were amazed at how quickly they had sold. He said > he wasn't sure if it would go or not and of course they were delighted with how > successful a start it had. Well, at least in Fairbanks. My question is, if > there are so many Xena fans in Fairbanks, how come I don't know any? > Many of us are shy. Even in Fairbanks. > > KT > (Hoo-hoo--yet nother milestone to mark off my life's list--"Comic Book > Reviewer".) > ========================================================= I've probably read more comic book reviews than anyone else here. You were excellent!! - -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ========================================================= 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: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:42:01 -0500 From: LAS Subject: [chakram-refugees] celebrity duets does everyone know about lucy lawless on celebrity duets on tues aug 29th? i know it's on fox in u.s. anyone know what time central time? 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. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V6 #143 **************************************