THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS... TWXN 92 07/28/97 Monday The advance sheet of XENA MEDIA REVIEW (XMR): http://xenafan.com/xmr Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future issues of XMR. From the editor: 1. I got back from the SoCal XenaFest a day early and so I was able to shoot this out. It was great seeing all the familiar faces and all the new faces. Of all the Fests, SoCal has a unqueness which rewards those who attend. Robert Trebor (Salmoneus), Steve Sears (supervising producer), and Robert Field (editor) were in attendence plus Jason Durey, the NZ Mechanical Effects Supervisor who personally delivered the prop knife which was sold for $500 (plus?) at the auction. 2. XMR #23 is being released later today. Check out the XMR archive: http://xenafan.com/xmr if you are not a subscriber or subscribed within the last few months. We are slowly getting caught up in subscriptions. We currently are trying to convert 1300 addresses. Eek. 3. Today we are back into miscellany mode, after a few issues of one-trick ponies. In this issue we encounter the Lawless-Sorbo dating myth, we see more evidence of how Xena has become entrenched in poplar culture (she poops up unexplained in relatively inappropriate places), and we will visit a bit with some nifty one- liners from BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. 4. And what do we have to look forward to on Wednesday? We got: a Liz Friedman quote in Chicago; a Xena quote in Boston; a Xena passing reference in a discussion about WebTV; Robin Hood and his most Merry Adventures; an observation on Xena's socio-economic leve; how ELLEN could have been beaten to her coming out party by some ladies we know; and another Logomancy reference! Be still my heart. And here's today's excerpts: [ ] 03-11-97 ST. PETERSBURG TIMES. Tuesday. Page 5D. 184 words. "Floridian; Television Q&a" COMMENTARY: Hahhahaa. This article caused a tremdous buzz on the internet that Lucy Lawless had gotten married to Robert Tapert. In truth, the information the reporter had was dated. It referred to Ms. Lawless' previous marriage with Garth Lawless. Also, Lawless and Sorbo are asked this question too many times. Ms. Lawless even mentioned its frequency in a recent ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT interview. And also, Xena, herself, has addressed this issue in ROYAL COUPLE OF THIEVES in regards to Xena's relationship with Hercules (they had a meaningful encounter in the past, but now they are JUST FRIENDS). EXCERPT: Question: Are Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless (TV's Hercules and Xena) married in real life? Answer: The answer is no, and they're not lovers, either. They're friends, but that's as far it goes. Lucy is married and Kevin is involved with a blond lady who looks nothing like Ms. Lawless.... [ ] 03-11-97 ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE. Tuesday. Page 1E. 372 words. "Crimes and mythdemeanors" By Ron Wolfe COMMENTARY: In an otherwise standard listing of Greek mythological characters (albeit the definitions are a bit jocular), Xena pops up -- no explanation, she's just there as comedy relief. REPRINT: Here are some of the key players in Greek mythology, all ready for revival: Aphrodite, goddess of love. No man could resist her once she squeezed into her magic girdle. Married to sooty Hephaestus, god of fire, she played slap-and-tickle with Ares, god of war. Apollo, god of music, medicine, poetry, archery and young unmarried men. Busy guy. Hades, gloomy-Gus god of death. Lovesick and lonely, he dragged the beautiful Persephone to his underground lair, but she vowed she would sooner starve than eat his Food of the Dead. Sorry, Chuck, no love connection. Hera, queen of the gods. Oh, what she could have told Oprah, what with husband King Zeus running around, skirt-chasing mortal women and claiming it was nothing, honey, nothing. Hercules, do-gooder son of Zeus and one of his mortal pick-ups. Hercules' 12 mighty labors included wrestling a bull, strangling a lion and switching lanes in Little Rock's rush-hour traffic. Homer, possibly a myth himself. Scholars disagree whether the blind poet really existed -- especially since he was supposed to have written his epic poems "The Illiad" and "The Odyssey" around 800 B.C., some say before the Greeks knew how to write. Homer's poems. "The Illiad" tells about the Trojan War, and "The Odyssey" about King Odysseus' troubled voyage home after the Trojans fell for his gift horse -- the original one-trick pony. Jason. He and his crew sailed in search of the Golden Fleece, and came back with the makings of a nifty Ray Harryhausen special effects movie, "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963). Pandora. Zeus hoodwinked her and her husband, Epimetheus, with a wedding gift even worse than another toaster: a mysterious wooden box. Pandora popped the lid, and Pain, Disease and War fled into the world. Pegasus, the winged white horse. Pretty much oblivious to metaphor, Zeus used him as a pack-horse for carrying thunderbolts. Xena, warrior princess. Nielsen ratings favorite among households surveyed on Mount Olympus. Zeus. The king of the gods liked nothing better than messing with people's minds. Oh, and don't forget -- the boss wants to see you. [ h] 03-12-97 THE LEDGER (Lakeland, FL). Wednesday. Page E1. 1083 words. "More Money. Price Increases at Area Attractions Don't Slow Visitors. Worth Every Penny; Theme Park Ticket Prices" By Carl Cronan (The Ledger) COMMENTARY: Okay, this is really a meaningless reference, but hey, look! They are going to add an attraction next year about TWISTER (the movie, not the game). EXCERPT: ..."Our business requires a constant reinvestment in our product," Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said. "We want to provide our guests with the best possible entertainment experience, and that costs money." Schroder said new attractions being added this spring include live action shows based on the popular syndicated television series "Hercules" and "Xena," and next year an attraction emulating the hit movie "Twister" will be added.... [ ] 03-12-97 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Wednesday. Page 1M. 454 words. "Inside Garland/Mesquite" COMMENTARY: Look! An adult who PUBLICLY has come out as a Xena fan! (But strangely enough does not release their name) EXCERPT: Occupation: Director, Administrative Services, Counseling Institute of Texas in Garland Community activities: Lieutenant governor, Division 37, Kiwanis Texas-Oklahoma District; alumni chairwoman, 1997 Texas Citizen Police Academy Symposium, Garland Citizen Police Academy Birth date and place: Sept. 23, 1958, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Family: Daughter, Allycia, 10; cocker spaniel, Bam Bam, 9 If I had a different job, I'd be a: Professional volunteer or Xena: Warrior Princess!... [ ] 03-12-97 THE ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION. Wednesday. Page 08D. 576 words. "Channel Surfer. Fox's live a.m. show paying Atlanta visit" By Bob Longino COMMENTARY: Another pointless reference but heck, it is a reference! EXCERPT: ...Cape fear Wave bye-bye to "The Cape." The syndicated series, starring Corbin Bernsen as an astronaut, will call it quits after this TV season. The reasons? Too big a budget and low ratings. "Cape" has averaged roughly a 2.4 in household ratings so far this season. That's low enough for top syndicated competitor "Xena: Warrior Princess" to really sneer at. Old Xena's been commanding a 7.8 rating recently.... [ d] 03-14-97 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. Page 68. "The Week" By Bruce Fretts and Kristen Baldwin COMMENTARY: Review of Buffy Vampire Slayer. Xena now has become part of an adjective! EXCERPT: ...Aided by a rambling suitor (Nicholas Brendon) and a shy computer hacker (Alyson Hannigan), Buffy takes on the monsters with a combination of Valley Girl put-downs ("You look like DeBarge," she tells a vampire in '80s duds) and Xena-style butt kicking. High school provides its own horrors, like Cordelia (Malibu Shores' Charisma Carpenter), the dread Popular Girl who speaks primarily in insults ("Nice dress. Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears"). Not since 1989's bleak comedy Heathers has the juxtaposition of adolescent angst with maimings and murders been such a good time.... [ e] 03-14-97 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Friday. 810 words. "'Buffy's' Sarah Michelle Gellar has a little 'Slayer' in her" By Frazier Moore (AP Television Writer) frazier_moore@ap.org COMMENTARY: More Buffy and the inevitable Xena comparisons. EXCERPT: ...Buffy is a teen angel in mini-skirts that have the camera scrambling to maintain decorum. She's an outspoken judge of the human condition ("You just don't get it," she tells her mother, "and believe me, you don't WANT it!") And she's a 5-foot-3-inch banty Xena, kicking vampire butt while she razzes each hellhound with a crack like, "See what happens when you roughhouse?"... [ ] 03-14-97 ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS. Friday. Page 15H. 601 words. "Jumpin' Jupiter! 'Orpheus' in Alaska. The Arts" By Mike Dunham (Daily News) COMMENTARY: A production of Offenbach's ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD is compared in part with XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. EXCERPT: Perhaps the most touching tale in classical mythology is that of Orpheus, the first musician, whose sweet songs enchanted wild animals and so delighted the gods that, when his beloved wife, Eurydice, died, they let him enter Hades -- the ancient world's abode of the deceased -- to bring her back to life. Or that was the story before Jacques Offenbach's 1858 spoof, ''Orpheus in the Underworld,'' which gets its Alaska debut this week... ...Not the least of her felicities is the fact that death annuls one's marriage vows, a technicality that intrigues lusty Jupiter, king of the gods. With an entourage of ditzy deities right out of ''Xena: Warrior Princess,'' he jumps across the Styx for some Olympian high jinks after public opinion coerces Orpheus into doing the right thing and making an unwilling attempt to rescue his unwilling spouse... Notices: All back issues of XMR and TWXN are available at (http://xenafan.com/xmr). We herein give praise and thanks to Tom Simpson for the space he has graciously donated from his spectacular, TOM'S XENA PAGE (http://xenafan.com). If you have never been there, you are **not** a xenafan! TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR, an annotated world press review of reports regarding the internationally syndicated television show XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (1995 - 2000+?) and the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is posted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the XenaVerse, Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you Lucia! I am greatly indebt to you), the MCA NetForum, the Xenite Message Center, and alt.tv.xena. I also would like to thank sirvin@law.wfu.edu for assitance in collecting the newstories. For a free e-mail subscription to XMR subscribe by e-mail to ktaborn@lightspeed.net by stating somewhere in the subject or text "sub xmr".