THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS... TWXN 108 09/19/97 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 recovered from my NYC trip to see GREASE and to celebrate the first year anniversary of WHOOSH. So back to the salt mine. We are JUST BARELY less than six months behind on TWXN. Is that an accomplishment or what? I am going to half-heartedly try to make significant IN ROADS over the next few decades so perhaps by the time I retire from my day job I might be caught up. I love a good challenge. 2. WHOOSH is looking for a few good women and men. We need cub reporters and photographers to cover the next SLEW of conventions: to wit, NYC Con (09/28/97), Valley Forge (10/04-05/97), San Francisco (10/18/97), San Diego (11/02/97), Chicago (11/16/97), Houston (11/23/97), and Burbank (01/17-18/98). If you think you have the right stuff to be a WHOOSH cub reporter just write to ktaborn@lightspeed.net with the subject "Cub Reporter". You will be GLAD you did. 3. If anyone went to the Minneapolis Con and would like to write it up for WHOOSH, please contact me. I have not found one person who has admitted to going to that convention. I don't even know who was appearing at it!!! 4. XMR is floating somewhere in my reptilian brain. It's there, I can feel it, but the grasping mechanisms need more sunlight. That's what I get for delegating XMR to my lower functions. 5. Today's TWXN, other than having a hefty amount of notices, is dominated by the May 1st "Good Morning America" interview with Lucy Lawless. It is a sign of great discipline to read this review and not to want to slap the host silly afterwards. Filling out that exciting experience will be news about the one place on the planet that did not get a Xena picture on their TV Guide and an all-woman martial arts demonstration team who are inspired by XWP. Here's the stories: [ ] 05-01-97 THE COURIER-JOURNAL. Thursday. Page 02D. 934 words. "Battaglia in town for Derby, fund-raiser" By Tom Dorsey COMMENTARY: The May Xena TV Guide cover was nixed for bluegrass staters. EXCERPT: ...TV Guide Derby Area residents who find the Kentucky Derby on the cover of TV Guide this week will be pleased at the nationwide exposure. If they traveled outside the region, however, they would discover Lucy Lawless, Xena the Warrior Princess, in place of Derby entry Pulpit on the cover. TV Guide has been publishing regional editions for the past year. It enables the magazine to put hometown favorites on the cover to sell more copies.... [ ] 05-01-97 ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 am ET). 1152 words. "Warrior Princess" Guests: Lucy Lawless. By Charles Gibson COMMENTARY: Interview with Lucy Lawless on "Good Morning Amercia". Insipid questions if LL lounges around in her Xena togs elicits an "I'm just an actress" response; a subjuctive-oid reference to LL working for the IRS (hahahhahaha!); and the emphatic statement that Xena does not scratch! REPRINT: CHARLES GIBSON, Host: (audio interrupt) "Xena, Warrior Princess" is tied for the number-one syndicated TV show in the country. What else would you expect from a sword-wielding woman who always gets her way? Xena is actually played by Lucy Lawless. She has laid down her sword to be with us this morning. I sort of expected you to show up in Xena dress here, it s a -- you're on the cover of "TV Guide." Can you see that? LUCY LAWLESS, Actress: Sorry to disappoint. CHARLES GIBSON: Do you wear that around the house? LUCY LAWLESS: Frequently while dusting, cleaning the grouting. CHARLES GIBSON: It must be a -- it must be a heady responsibility to have to save the world. LUCY LAWLESS: Yes, but I bear it lightly. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. No, I m just an actress. CHARLES GIBSON: And have to do it so often. I mean, that s not easy stuff. What do -- you have a daughter, right? Eight years old, is that right? LUCY LAWLESS: Yes, yes, nearly 9. CHARLES GIBSON: Yes. What does she think of -- of -- can she separate Mom in the costume from Mom at home? LUCY LAWLESS: Yes, and she thinks her mother is the most boring woman on earth. As far as she s concerned, I might as well work at the Inland Revenue Department or the IRS, but no, she's not that keen to come along and partake in the excitement. CHARLES GIBSON: Having seen the program a little bit, you -- you -- you punch, you kick, you maul, you scratch. I mean, you do pretty much... LUCY LAWLESS: She doesn't scratch. Were you going to say she scratches? CHARLES GIBSON: Well, I -- I -- I don t -- I hadn t seen an actual scratch, but she had not done that. But I -- but that must be -- I mean, you don t do that around the house, do you? LUCY LAWLESS: No, none of that. In fact, I don t even do it in real life. Nobody gets hurt. CHARLES GIBSON: You don t do that in real life? LUCY LAWLESS: Well, I mean, nobody... CHARLES GIBSON: Those are... LUCY LAWLESS:... nobody actually makes contact. CHARLES GIBSON: Those are stunt? Really? Nobody makes contact when you re doing that? LUCY LAWLESS: Very seldom. CHARLES GIBSON: Can you (inaudible), show me how to throw a punch that wouldn t -- that wouldn t... LUCY LAWLESS: I d love to. CHARLES GIBSON: Sure. LUCY LAWLESS: How about -- in fact... CHARLES GIBSON: Can we stand up? LUCY LAWLESS: (inaudible)... CHARLES GIBSON: We re going to stand up, folks. LUCY LAWLESS: All right. So, what camera are you on? CHARLES GIBSON: I don t know, which one? LUCY LAWLESS: (inaudible) one. CHARLES GIBSON: Do you want to be on that one? OK. LUCY LAWLESS: OK. So if you were to hit me, if you get the angle right... CHARLES GIBSON: Oh, I don t want to hit you, I ll get all sorts of letters. LUCY LAWLESS: It s fun! CHARLES GIBSON: What do I do? LUCY LAWLESS: OK, give me backhand, which is... CHARLES GIBSON: Like this? LUCY LAWLESS: And it has to go from that side of my face to... CHARLES GIBSON: To that side. LUCY LAWLESS:... (inaudible). See, you re a good foot away from me... CHARLES GIBSON: OK, OK, all right. LUCY LAWLESS:... (inaudible) television can t tell, so it s... CHARLES GIBSON: Ooh! Nothing happened, folks. My hands, my fingers never left my hands. Now, you do... LUCY LAWLESS: Yes, it s just a question of angling. CHARLES GIBSON: one to me. You do one to me. LUCY LAWLESS: Well, hang on, where are you? (inaudible)... CHARLES GIBSON: (inaudible). LUCY LAWLESS: Oh, OK. CHARLES GIBSON: All right. LUCY LAWLESS: All right, you ready to sell it? CHARLES GIBSON: Right. Ooh! We ve even got sound effects! LUCY LAWLESS: (inaudible) great! CHARLES GIBSON: We ve even got sound effects. That s terrific. That s -- that s -- that s the way you save you world. LUCY LAWLESS: That s the way I save the world. It was all make believe. CHARLES GIBSON: That s kind of fun. You never get hurt doing that, and then you went on the "Tonight" Show, did a stunt, and, what, broke a -- broke a -- LUCY LAWLESS: Broke a pelvis. CHARLES GIBSON: Ooh! LUCY LAWLESS: Well, I didn t break it, I fractured it in four or five places. And the way your pelvis fractures, because it s sort of plate bone, it s not a like clean crack, it s like pressing your thumb into a meringue. It s kind of messy and (inaudible)... CHARLES GIBSON: Oh! But you re OK now? LUCY LAWLESS: I m 100 percent. CHARLES GIBSON: You ve recovered? LUCY LAWLESS: A hundred percent. CHARLES GIBSON: OK, back to save the world now. LUCY LAWLESS: Yes. CHARLES GIBSON: And going to Broadway, right? You re going to play in "Grease"? LUCY LAWLESS: Yes, I m hoping to conquer Broadway. I m (inaudible)... CHARLES GIBSON: Listen... LUCY LAWLESS: I m afraid. CHARLES GIBSON:... after you ve saved the world, conquering Broadway, no sweat. Rizzo in "Grease," right? LUCY LAWLESS: Yes. I ve got a lot of work to do, but I m up for it. It s a childhood dream to me to do Broadway. I never thought, with my schedule, how I would ever realize that, but somehow it s come to me, and I -- oh, I ve got a lot of work to do. CHARLES GIBSON: Well, have much fun with it. LUCY LAWLESS: Yes, thank you. CHARLES GIBSON: I m sure it ll be very successful. Lucy Lawless, nice to meet you. LUCY LAWLESS: Very nice to meet you. CHARLES GIBSON: Xena the warrior princess, and her blows don t hurt at all. [ ] 05-02-97 CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Friday. Page 3. 118 words. "Chicks Show Their Chops" By Shirley Henderson. Edited Monica Eng. COMMENTARY: A Xena inspired martial arts demonstration team. REPRINT: "Babes with Blades," a team of female actor-combatants armed with quarterstaffs, kali sticks, daggers and other weapons, will attempt to slash away at theatrical typecasting like no other weapon-wielding women before (Lorena Bobbitt notwithstanding). Featuring pair fights, group fights and monologues, the show, which presents 14 actresses trained in combat, seeks to showcase and encourage the casting of females in combat roles through scenes including a Geisha battle, a Chinese opera and a free-for-all bridal gown sale. "It's our version of 'Xena,"' says Karin McKie, an actress in the show.. At 8 p.m. Friday-Monday at Footsteps Theatre Co., 5230 N. Clark St. ; $5; 773-878-4840. 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".