THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS... TWXN 110 09/22/97 Montag 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. Due to a minor family emergency, I will not be able to attend the San Francisco Convention. I was looking forward to the convention and the opportunity to meet many of my on-line acquaintances, but it looks like we have been thwarted by those pesky Fates again. Maybe next year! 2. I received some mail from "Kitchen Warrior". There was no e-mail address notated so I am forced to acknowledge receipt through here. Thanks KW, I got it. 3. Congrats on the engagement of Tom Simpson of Tom's Xena Page (http://xenafan.com) and Betsy Book of WHOOSH (http://www.thirdstory.com). This means more that a symbolic merging between the two largest non-commercial fan based web sites. I am proud to have had WHOOSH be the agent of their union. 4. I had a walk down memory lane when an interview in The Zocalo (#124, 09/21/97), an internet Babylon 5 newsletter (http://www.highfiber.com/~katana), mentioned my past life as a rabid Star Trek fan. It made me think about the last 10 years I have spent on- line and in media fandom publishing. The last year and a half have been rather Xena intensive and I tend to forget about the other media fandoms out there. It is easy to get caught up in our own little micro-universe. It is good to think macrocosm periodically. But don't worry; it was only a passing thought. I am back to churning out these Xena-oid newsletters and what not. Which reminds me, XMR #27 is late.... And now...the gnus: [ ] 05-05-97 CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Monday. Page N3. Sports. 450 words. "Thomas Stresses Something's Still Lacking for Sox" By Fred Mitchell COMMENTARY: Xena beats DARTH VADER in ranking with who Chicago kids would like to be. What a plugging opportunity! WHOOSH! The Journal of the International Association of Xena Studies will have an article in its October 1997 issue which expores the uncanny and sometimes disturbing similiarities between Xena, the warrior princess, and Darth Vader, the classic deadbeat dad. EXCERPT: ...Be like Oprah: According to a poll conducted by Carvel ice cream, 37 percent of children living in Chicago would like to be Oprah Winfrey, while only 8 percent would like to be Michael Jordan. And Jordan is ranked fifth among people children nationwide wished they could be on their birthday. Ranking ahead of Jordan in that category were 1) first daughter Chelsea Clinton, 2) golf phenom Tiger Woods, 3) TV warrior princess Xena and 4) movie villain Darth Vader. The Cubs, by the way, are the No. 1 team adults wish would win the World Series.... [ ] 05-05-97 THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT (Norfolk, VA). Monday. Page E1. 813 words. "King of the Hill" Is Hip, and Other Observations" By Larry Bonko COMMENTARY: Larry Bonko loves XENA so much that he watched "Something So Right" ONLY BECAUSE of Lucy Lawless' multi-second appearance on the show. IF THAT AIN'T LOVE...what is? EXCERPT: ...I'm nuts about ''Xena, Warrior Princess,'' starring Lucy Lawless. If I weren't, I would never have watched the dopey NBC sitcom ''Something So Right'' to catch Lawless in a guest shot.... [ ] 05-05-97 USA TODAY. Monday. Page 8D. 443 words. "Super sister fights evil Warrior Nun is attracting comic-book disciples" by Leslie Miller COMMENTARY: I have not seen this comic book yet, but it is on my list of things to do in the next century. EXCERPT: ...In the defiant world of bad-girl comic books, one holy heroine is drawing a crowd. The Warrior Nun -- a cross between Xena and Joan of Arc -- has attracted both male and female fans who now follow the character, well, religiously.... [ ] 05-05-97 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Monday. Page E07. 369 words. "New Zealander's baby blues catch 'Xena' viewer's eye" By R.K. Shull COMMENTARY: LL is not naturally blond, but it is a common misperception. I suppose it will be my lot in life trying to educate the masses about this. Oh, how great are the burdens we place upon ourselves. EXCERPT: Dear R.K. Shull: In Lucy Lawless' movies, how blue are her eyes? Once when I saw her, they were so blue I thought she might be wearing blue contacts. Are all her movies made in New Zealand? - C.I.A. Dear Reader: I assume all this has to do with her role as Xena: Warrior Princess, which is filmed in her native New Zealand. Lucy is naturally blond, which may explain her blue, blue eyes.... [ ] 05-05-97 ABC NEWS. ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 am ET). 1206 words. "Most Beautiful People" Guests: Susan Toepfer. By Joan Lunden COMMENTARY: A fleeting yet intriguing reaction to LL's appearance in the annual People magazine's list of the 50 Most Beautiful People. It is things like this that make me want to move to Africa. EXCERPT: JOAN LUNDEN, Host: Well, in case you didn t recognize the brooding stranger we showed you before the commercial, it is Jim Carrey, more famous for being funny than being beautiful. But nevertheless, he has been chosen as one of "People" magazine s 50 most beautiful people in the world. And joining me right now with the inside scoop is -- on the list is Susan Toepfer, executive editor of special issues for "People." Good to have you back here.... ...JOAN LUNDEN: "One Life to Live," yes, here on ABC. And the next person was just on our program. This is Xena. SUSAN TOEPFER: Lucy Lawless, this great, strong beauty. She did admit, though, that that is not her hair. Xena s hair is imported from... JOAN LUNDEN: That s not her hair? SUSAN TOEPFER:... Spain, yes. JOAN LUNDEN: Really? SUSAN TOEPFER: So we can t be that jealous. JOAN LUNDEN: So that s a wig? SUSAN TOEPFER: Sort of, yes. JOAN LUNDEN: Or a fall. SUSAN TOEPFER: A fall or extension. JOAN LUNDEN: She was just on our show last week. She was showing Charlie how to do some of those fake falls and fake hits... [ ] 05-06-97 CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Tuesday. Kidnews. Page 7. 68 words. "Most Bizarre" COMMENTARY: The woman is a true role model: she insisted upon Xena's hair being black and now we know about her preferences for the letter "X". Personally, my letter preference gravitates towards "W" but only because I was exposed to Elmer Fudd at a tender age. REPRINT: That's what Gillian Anderson of The X-Files" was voted by her high school classmates. The now-28-year-old pierced her nose in high school, wore thrift-shop designs and cut tons of her hair off at a time when kids just didn't do that. 'I remember so clearly being a kid and thinking that X's were really attractive.'Lucy Lawless, Xena Warrior Princess, when asked why Xena is spelled with an X.... [ a] 05-06-97 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Entertainment News. 768 words. "'Highlander' star changes look for summer, heads for convention" By Jennifer Bowles, AP Television Writer COMMENTARY: Hey!!! HIGHLANDER is for the cerebral crowd. This is truly news. I wonder why I don't see hundreds of articles about HIGHLANDER and its place in society, popular culture, literary traditions, and its subtext? Maybe I am just not looking in the right places. I bet they get it in Terre Haute! EXCERPT: ..."Highlander" (usually rated TV-14) has spawned a cult-like following not unlike the "Star Trek" series, "Babylon 5" or "The X-Files." And it was the first among the recent spate of heroic fantasy shows, including "Xena: Warrior Princess," and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." A new series "Roar," described as a mix of the films "Braveheart" and "Excalibur," is coming out this summer on Fox. "I don't liken 'Highlander' to 'Xena' or 'Hercules' because I think 'Highlander' is a little bit more cerebral than those shows are," Paul says. "I think it has a little more class than those shows do. That's my personal opinion. I'm not knocking them, I think they're great for what they are."... [ ] 05-07-97 THE TIMES UNION (Albany, NY). Wednesday. Page A2. 170 words. "Westchester County DA a beauty, says 'People'" COMMENTARY: More on the People Magazine spread. A DA got into it; but then the Spice Girls did too. Is this supposed to be an honor or something???? EXCERPT: There she is, right between Xena the warrior princess and Drew Barrymore, in People magazine's annual picks of the world's most beautiful people: Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.... ...Among the others on the magazine's list are Cuba Gooding Jr., Lauren Bacall, the Spice Girls, ''Xena's'' Lucy Lawless and Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. [ a] 05-08-97 CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Thursday. Sports. Page 2. "Quotable" By Steve Rosenbloom COMMENTARY: This appears to be the very first print media coverage of "the incident". I will be running all of the significant coverage because that is what TWXN and XMR does. EXCERPT: ...That's entertainment Xena, the Warrior Princess, put on quite a show for the Disney people the other night. Lucy Lawless, the actress who portrays Xena, stepped on the ice to sing the anthem before the Mighty Ducks-Red Wings game at the Pond in Anaheim Tuesday night and stripped off her blazer to reveal a red vest. Then, in her exuberance at the end of the anthem, she threw her arms up and, uh, well, Lucy Lawless became Lucy topless. Well, they always did call Disneyland "the happiest place on Earth."... 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".