HIGHLA-L Digest - 30 Aug 2001 to 2 Sep 2001 - Special issue

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      There are 10 messages totalling 1040 lines in this issue.
      
      Topics in this special issue:
      
        1. Trilby's Con Report: Sunday
        2. Very OT: Metallica  e-mailing lists
        3. Trilby's Con Report: Friday
        4. Trilby's Con Reports (3)
        5. Bi-Monthly Reminder
        6. Trilby's Con Report: Saturday
        7. Message from Tarryn for Billie-Lee Williams
        8. My turn: Reunion-part 1
      
      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sat, 1 Sep 2001 00:59:33 -0400
      From:    Trilby <trilby23@bellsouth.net>
      Subject: Trilby's Con Report: Sunday
      
      SUNDAY, Aug 26, 2001
      
      So I'm up again early Sunday morning, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed,
      and with bells figuratively on, for another light breakfast with the
      totally delightful KDKlah's, as excited as can be about taking
      Anthony De Longis' Beginner's Sword Class at 9:00.  I had to miss
      Ginjer and Donna's readings (so I still only know "Barricades" by
      reputation, drat it all!!), but I'm so excited that I get to Concourse B
      a good 15 minutes early to stretch and warm up, and I pair up
      quickly with Sandy.  I had the absolute delight of meeting her about
      3 years ago at a Jim Byrnes gig in St Louis, and when she
      recognized me at the Gala and said Hi, I could hardly believe it!
      (She said "I thought I recognized your dancing style!"  Gee, I know
      I'm a bad dancer, but I didn't think I was actually *memorable*!)
      (*JOKING*, Sandy!  You were such a sweetheart!)
      
      Consummate professional that he is, Anthony showed up right on
      time, with nary a trace of the late night he'd just had (or of the very
      fine Scotch that he was drinking Saturday night, and passing
      around for the table to sample.  Anyone who thinks they don't like
      Scotch needs to try whatever-it-was that Anthony had after the
      Gala!)  OH, but the man looks GOOD!!  There's something about
      him in person that doesn't translate all that well onto the screen or
      photos - charm?  charisma?  the way he seems totally involved
      with life?  I don't know.  I'm with Kristina on this one: I always
      thought he was good-looking, and his sword work in "Duende" was
      just amazing, but I didn't really "get" it till I met him in person.
      And, oh, I *SO* get it now!!  Oh BOY do I ever get it!
      
      Mary and - surprise! - Gillian came with him to help teach the
      class, which was a special bonus.  "Listen to what they say,"
      Anthony told us.  "They speak for me."  It was such a treat to have
      three teachers for one class!  Everyone got a lot of attention, and
      more important, care.
      
      We started with warmups and stretches, slow, careful, and
      thorough.  Anthony was scanning the group of us the entire time,
      watching us, keeping an eye on every one of us.  He is a born
      teacher, no question.  He has that magic ability to communicate
      his love of and enthusiasm for his art to his students, and he takes
      his responsibilities as a teacher *very* seriously!  "If I say
      something that's not clear to you, tell me so.  I've got 22 different
      ways of explaining everything, and my job as a teacher is to find
      the way that suits each of you best."  He was also very conscious
      of making sure nobody got hurt:  "Turn to your partner and test the
      distance" - meaning, hold our swords at the ready and make sure
      we're not close enough to whack each other by accident.  "Now,
      look your partner in the eye and repeat after me: 'My Job Is To
      Keep You Safe'."  We all promised to keep each other safe more
      than once that morning!
      
      One of the things Anthony emphasized was that the sword isn't
      some weird thing that hangs off your hand, and it isn't in control.
      It's an extension of your body, and you control it, not the other way
      around.  (Didn't that basic piece of teaching make it into a HL
      script somewhere?)  When you have control, only the smallest
      movements are really needed - but since that's not very interesting
      for the screen, he taught us several big, sweeping, theatrical
      movements too.  ("Palm up, over your head and brush the hair,
      palm down.")  He also talked about moving from the feet up, with
      the whole body, and using the power that comes from the earth
      (now, I *know* that was in "The Samurai"!).  I was impressed by
      how closely the sword class was related to the Tai Chi Fan class,
      with the emphasis on awareness of the body as a unified whole,
      rather than just arms and legs swinging around madly.  Anthony
      demonstrated how staying on the balls of your toes can make you
      more mobile, so that you can turn your entire body with just a
      small movement. (I kept doing this funky thing with my hips,
      swinging my body around by momentum instead.  Gillian caught
      me at it and tried to fix it, but I don't think I mastered that particular
      skill.  *G* )
      
      One of the most admirable things about Anthony as a teacher was
      that he gave *everyone* in the room as much personal attention as
      possible.  He was always on the move, going from one pair to the
      next, making adjustments and giving encouragement.  Once, he
      even pulled little ol' *me* out of the group (probably so he could try
      to "fix" me!), to help him demonstrate a particular movement, and
      how to line up your feet properly for stage or camera angles
      (forward/right foot straight forward, back/left foot at a 45-degree
      angle, and very slightly - like six or eight inches - to the side of
      your partner, rather than being directly in line with each other).  He
      also talked about how much you have to use your peripheral vision,
      rather than gluing your eyes to your partner's sword ("If I'm duelling
      with Trilby, I'll be focusing on her chest," says Anthony.  "Fine with
      me!" says I, very happily; but of course his point was that if you
      watch your partner's body, their sword will be in your peripheral
      vision.)
      
      About halfway through, we switched partners, so Sandy got a
      break from my enthusiastic and not-always-accurate swinging.  ;-)
      The break also gave me a chance to grab a smaller "weapon".
      Remember the sword fight between Methos and Amanda in
      "Methuselah's Gift"?  Elizabeth Gracen had commented more than
      once during the weekend that Adrian Paul (the director of that ep)
      had had her in tears during the filming of that fight scene, and in
      one outtake, she was saying, "My arm's about to fall off."  Well,
      most of us in the class weren't using anything *remotely* heavy -
      mostly we used 4-foot wooden dowels - but after maneuvering that
      dowel around for an hour or so, up, down, in, out, over my head and
      back, I was ready to grab one of the smaller (and shorter) sticks
      that were still available.  I have more respect than ever for
      Elizabeth, Stan, and any of the other actors who had to film a
      swordfight scene with little or no prior training!  One knows,
      intellectually, how tough and how tiring it can be, but actually
      experiencing even a small shadow of it for yourself gives you a
      whole different appreciation for how hard the actors are working!
      
      But by the end of the 2-hour class, we were all able to go through a
      short fight scene, both attacking and parrying.  For someone who
      started watching Errol Flynn movies at the age of 4 or 5 and
      wanted to be Robin Hood, not Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland was
      gorgeous but the guys got all the fun!), it was pure heaven!
      
      OK, now I have to brag a tiny little bit.  Shortly after the con was
      over, I went up to the Ops room to see if they needed anyone to
      help do anything.  On my way I met Anthony coming down the hall,
      finally on his way to dinner, and I said Hello.  "You were excellent
      in the class this morning," he said - gee, without any prompting or
      anything!! I did the usual Southern "Aw, gee, shucks," thing - it's
      kind of a knee-jerk response to any compliment.  "No, really," he
      said.  "You were very good."  I thanked him for the experience and
      wished him a good night.  OK, so maybe he was just being nice to
      a fan, and I know that he meant "good for a beginner with a 4-foot
      dowel in her hand", but I don't care!!  I DIDN'T TOTALLY SUCK!!
      Could the weekend have POSSIBLY been any better?
      
      But I'm getting ahead of myself ....
      
      The rest of Sunday was just as wonderful as the rest of the week.  I
      don't know that I can add very much to what's already been posted.
       Also, I've mislaid my little blue schedule (it's probably inder the
      clean socks but I can't lay hands on it for the moment), so I've
      gotten a little fuzzy.  I think today was the day I finally met Ardie!!
      She was one of the "guards" at the ballroom door.  Another face to
      put to a name that I know so well!!
      
      I think the next session after the sword class was the Q&A with
      Adrian and Stan.  It was an absolute joy; both guys were "on" and
      ready for fun!  The food fight in Paris has already been mentioned;
      so has Adrian's disclaimer that he doesn't think Stan will be
      guesting on "Tracker" anytime soon ... does anyone else watch
      "The Actor's Studio" on Bravo?  Someone asked a question that
      came from that program:  "If there is a God, what would you want
      God to say to you when you go to Heaven?"  It made me wonder if
      either Adrian or Stan has ever watched the show, because the
      question seemed to take them both totally by surprise.  They took
      it very seriously and thought about their answers for a moment.
      Adrian answered first, saying that he hoped God would say that
      Adrian and done good things for people, and had made a difference
      in people's lives.  Then Stan said that he hoped God would say that
      Stan had been a good person; Adrian looked at Stan and said,
      "Yeah!"  Like, "Good answer!"
      
      I got in line for this Q&A too (no, I'm not a bit shy, why do you
      ask?), and I asked them, of the scenes they had together, were
      there any that particularly stood out for any reason - good, bad,
      fun, hard to do?  That got them both reminiscing for a few minutes.
      Stan mentioned "Something Wicked" and "End of Innocence",
      while Adrian remembered "Under Colour of Authority".  It was so
      great seeing them together, and the thing that really impressed me
      was that what they talked about remembering were scenes that
      they loved doing together - not the ones that were hard to shoot, or
      freezing cold.
      
      Next up was an hour with Jim Byrnes and Peter Wingfield.  In one
      of the unused tapes from the "Best Of" series that was shown
      earlier, the two of them talked about how quickly they hit it off, and
      it showed on stage.  Peter mentioned that his character in (I think)
      Stargate is being killed off, and they aren't even going to bring him
      back to do it - they're going to use previously filmed footage and
      some cinema magic.  He talked about having to make decisions
      about what jobs you take: "Whenever you accept one job, it means
      you aren't available for other work.  You have to decide whether
      taking a particular job is going to be worth giving up other
      opportunities.  So you tell them, 'I'll do this if you'll make a
      commitment to me for three shows,' because if they won't, it's not
      worth being off the market for so long."  He also mentioned Noah's
      Ark, and said that the show became boring because there wasn't
      much difference from episode to episode; and that it was a little
      silly sitting around listening to the director calling "Action, duck!
      Cue the duck!"  *G*
      
      Jim said that he and Elizabeth still wanted to do a project together
      (a CD with EG's photography?  Not sure about that), but they
      hadn't been able to get together yet.  He also said that he's been
      doing a lot with his music, but he hasn't had many acting gigs
      lately.  He did mention that he has a role as a Catholic priest, and
      a *comedic* role as a blind quadriplegic, but I didn't catch the
      names of either project (Jette?  Are you out there?).
      
      The talked about how much fun it was to do "Indiscretions", and
      they agreed that Dennis Berry was director "in name only" - it was
      the last HL episode filmed, and they pretty much did what they
      wanted.  (I wanted SO MUCH to get in the Q&A line again and ask
      them: in the scene where Methos says he knew Joe was lying
      because "you do this thing with your face", and then mimics what
      Joe does - was that something that Peter had noticed previously,
      watching "Joe" onscreen?  Or did they work it out together?  But I
      figured that asking questions in 3 Q&A's was plenty, and other
      people should have a chance too. But I *still* want to know!!)
      
      (BTW:  Totally OT, but I work with someone named "Amy
      Dawson".  *G*)
      
      During their hour, Ocean Hellman came onstage carrying a tray
      with two bottles of what looked to me like Heineken's beer, to great
      audience applause.  Peter got her a chair and insisted she stay
      with them, and she talked about filming her scene on the porch of
      her house with Peter (isn't that the famous "unthinkable" line?).
      She said she had been acting most of her life, and she *never* got
      emotional over a role.  Ever.  Except for that scene.  They finished
      that scene, and the entire crew was completely quiet.  She said
      she walked down the porch steps and went behind a tree, and just
      started to shake, she was so "rocked" by the emotion!  Peter
      reached over and took her hand, and Ocean squeezed back, and
      Jim said, "Get a room!"  LOL!!!!
      
      Next came an hour with Elizabeth Gracen and Nadia Cameron-
      Blakey.  I was volunteering again, this time "guarding" the ballroom
      door.  There were two of us, me and Elke (Hi Elke!).  I thought this
      would be nice and easy, I'd get to sit and listen, but it was actually
      very busy, so I missed a great deal of the program.  People were
      coming and going the whole hour, and once I had to be a bad guy
      and tell someone they couldn't bring coffee or food in.  Just doing
      my job.  (Hey, I was the stage-manager for a part-time opera
      company for eight years, I got LOTS of practice telling people they
      can't bring food here or there. *G*)
      
      I did hear Elizabeth talking about Alexandra Vandernoot.  She said
      that they didn't work together except for that scene in "The Lady or
      the Tiger", so they didn't know each other well; but Elizabeth did
      remember that Alexandra was just amazed that there was no
      smoking allowed on the set (and I believe she said that was Adrian
      Paul's strict rule). They also talked about the flashback in
      "Methuselah's Gift", where Amanda and Rebecca had been sharing
      a bed; Nadia said "Why does that have to be erotic?  Who was it
      that decided that two strong women can't just be good friends?"
      and someone from the audience shouted out, "Some man!".
      
      The con was winding down, and it appeared to some of us in the
      audience that something that was supposed to happen .... wasn't
      happening.  I have no idea what was going on, but they seemed to
      be "stalling".  Finally Peter and Ocean returned to the stage and
      read another exchange from "An Evening at Joe's" - the excerpt
      when Alexa figures out that "Adam" is an Immortal.  It was sweet,
      and touching, and a delight to me, since I had missed their
      readings before.
      
      It was a (very small) disappointment to me that Adrian, Stan, and
      Jim weren't there for the final farewell, but apparently they all had to
      leave for professional commitments.  In any case, to me, the Con
      was less about the GOH's than it was about celebrating Highlander
      in all its forms, meeting new and old friends, and reforging the
      bonds that brought us all together in the first place.
      
      Thank you, Lynn and Janean and all the staff, for going to lengths
      and working harder than any of us on this side of the stage can
      possibly imagine.  Thanks to Big John for his unfailing energy and
      brilliant smile.  Thanks to so many, many of the con attendees for
      the hugs and good will, and for welcoming a "newbie" like she was
      an old friend.  Thanks to Gillian and Donna, to Ken and Bill, and to
      all the other writers and creative personnel who were with us in
      spirit, for giving us six seasons of Highlander to treasure - and for
      giving us each other.  Thanks to Ginjer, Anthony, and Braun for
      helping to keep the flame alive.  And a very grateful, special thanks
      to those of you who signed my copy of "An Evening at Joe's" after I
      caught "autograph fever" on Sunday, even though you were all off-
      duty.  The writers have always been the real stars in my eyes.
      
      How soon can we do this again?
      
        ----------------------  Trilby
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Fri, 31 Aug 2001 19:49:54 -0700
      From:    Danni Butterfuss <dbutter@wvi.com>
      Subject: Very OT: Metallica  e-mailing lists
      
      Sorry to cross post this. I am looking to find out if there are any
      Metallica e-mail lists. Please contact me off list if you know.
      Thanks
      
      Danni dbutter@wvi.com
      
      --
      MZ?
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sat, 1 Sep 2001 17:05:22 -0400
      From:    Trilby <trilby23@bellsouth.net>
      Subject: Re: Trilby's Con Report: Friday
      
      Hi Jen,
      
      > > After those came a truly excellent documentary, directed by
      > > Elizabeth Gracen, called "The Damn Deal" - conversations with
      > > three drag queens who compete in female impersonator contests.
      >
      > Ohh, sounds really interesting.  Is that shown on cable??
      
      Nobody mentioned it being shown on cable, so I'm guessing not.
      But if you're inclined, I'm sure it's for sale on her website:
      
         http://www.elizabethgracen.org/
      
      
        ------------  Trilby
      "Who's the African-American professional investigator who has
      safe, consensual sex with strong, independent women who work for
      equal pay?   Shaft."  -  Steve 2000
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sat, 1 Sep 2001 17:50:33 -0400
      From:    Trilby <trilby23@bellsouth.net>
      Subject: Re: Trilby's Con Reports
      
      Nancy wrote:
      
      > Just wanted to say thanks so much for posting these. I'm enjoying
      > reading about all I missed.
      
      Thank you so much!!
      
      > And I wouldn't mind hearing reports from a few other folks, particularly
      > since it sounds like there was so much good stuff to do that
      > one person couldn't catch everything.
      
      That's absolutely true.  I missed a lot of programming that I would
      have dearly loved to see, because I wanted to take the classes.
      One "con veteran" said she thought there was too much "down
      time".  Different strokes, I guess - for this ConVirgin, there was no
      down time at all!
      
      
      -------------------- Trilby
      Live long and prosper.  May the Force be with you.
      Remember that the truth is out there ...
      And no matter where you go ... there you are ...
      But in the end there can be only one.
      Oh, boy.
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sun, 2 Sep 2001 00:09:48 -0500
      From:    Debra Douglass <ddoug@cs6668160-46.austin.rr.com>
      Subject: Bi-Monthly Reminder
      
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      'Send Sword FAQ'             =  The Sword FAQ from
                                      rec.martial-arts (22 March, 1994)
      'Send HL FAQ'                =  The Highlander FAQ in 19 parts
                                      (each part 350 lines or less)
      'Send HL mFAQ'               =  The Highlander FAQ in 25 parts
                                      (each part 250 lines or less)
      
      Also we have a World Wide Web and an ftp site:
         WWW -> http://www.highlander.org/highlander/
         FTP -> ftp.highlander.org - /pub/highlander   or
         FTP -> 198.87.195.20 - /pub/highlander
      
      The latest version of the FAQ is always available through me. The Web
      and FTP sites may have older versions. The copy on Highlander.ORG is updated
      every two to three months (more frequently if necessary) and I have no
      control as to when any other Web site updates their version.
      
      Davis/Panzer Productions their their own WWW site which
      contains information about the TV series, the movies, and available
      Highlander merchandise.
      
         http://www.highlander-official.com/highland/
      
      Rysher Entertainment also maintains a Highlander site about the TV
      series.
      
         http://www.rysher.com/highlander/
      
      -Debbie Douglass
      (HIGHLA-L list owner)
      --
      .------------------------------------------------------------------.
      |   No flames were thrown in the creation of this email message.   |
      |-----------------------------.------------------------------------'
      |Debra Douglass                \
      |ddoug@catrio.org               \
      |http://www.catrio.org           \
      `---------------------------------`
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Thu, 30 Aug 2001 16:06:55 -0700
      From:    Lynn <lloschin@sprynet.com>
      Subject: Re: Trilby's Con Report: Saturday
      
      From: "Trilby" <trilby23@bellsouth.net>
      
      > Elizabeth and (please GOD let me get this name right) Roberta Brown
      led
      > the class.  Roberta was Elizabeth's (stunt double, I think?) for HL,
      and
      > also the stunt double for the lead in QoS.
      
      Just a quick clarification... Roberta did not work on HL or the Raven;
      she was Tessie's stunt double for the first 8 episodes or so of QoS.
      
      Roberta is an actress, choreographer and teacher -- you can read more
      about her at http://www.westsidefencing.com/stagecombat.html
      
      > Can I take a moment to tell you how beautiful Elizabeth is?  She's
      let her
      > hair grow past her shoulders, and at least that morning she wasn't
      > wearing much makeup.  She and Roberta are both also *tiny*.
      Elizabeth
      > may be tall  (but then, I'm 5"1' so everyone looks tall to me), but
      she has a
      > very small, fine build.  She's not in the least bit frail, though -
      she and
      > Roberta both showed a lot of physical strength during the class.
      You
      > have to have a strong body to be able to stand on one foot, with
      your
      > arms both held in different directions, and kick to the side (up
      high!) with
      > the other foot!
      
      They also showed incredible stamina... they added a third class at the
      very end of the convention, at 4:30 Sunday afternoon!  Amazing.
      
      > Right after Adrian's Q&A came an hour (I assume Q&A format again)
      > with Peter Wingfield and Ocean Hellman, but I skipped that - I
      hadn't
      > been able to get into the Dealer's Room on Friday, and I wanted to
      try
      > again today.  (This was my one single little quibble with the con:
      the
      > Dealer's Room was too small, and the traffic didn't flow well at
      all.  But it
      > may be that the Con didn't have much choice about that; it seemed as
      > though there was only one large room available in that area, and it
      was
      > being used for the classes.  I don't think anyone would have been
      > happier if the Dealer's Room was all the way on the other side of
      the
      > hotel from the rest of the con activities!)
      
      Unfortunately, the dealers' room was the size it had to be if we were
      to have the stage combat classes.  Otherwise we could have opened
      those two rooms and had the dealers in both Concourse A & B, but there
      was just no place else to put the classes.  The only other downstairs
      ballroom besides the Grand Ballroom ("Lindbergh" I think) only has 8'
      ceilings... and I promised Anthony I wouldn't put him in a room with
      ceilings under 10' again!  We didn't put the dealers in there because
      it's actually smaller than Concourse A... unless we wanted to have
      viewer dealers in a slightly wider space that would allow for better
      traffic flow, but we didn't want to turn dealers away.  Oh well,
      lessons learned and all that.
      
      Thanks for the reports, Trilby!  Tiffany especially enjoyed hearing
      she looked like EG :)  And we are grateful for your help, too.
      
      Lynn
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sun, 2 Sep 2001 08:52:59 +0200
      From:    Marina Bailey <fdd-tmar@netactive.co.za>
      Subject: Message from Tarryn for Billie-Lee Williams
      
      Tarryn asked me to forward this for her:
      
      I'm trying to get hold of Billie-Lee Williams, aka McCelt,
      in Cupertino, Ca. Let her know I am in the Bay area and want
      to bring her what she asked for, but when I e-mail it
      keeps getting bounced. I'm here until the 12th of
      Sept.
      
      Tarryn's email address while she's in the States is:
      tarrynlz@yahoo.co.uk
      But Billie-Lee, if you email me offlist, I can give you the
      phone number of the people she's staying with.
      
      - Marina.
      
      \\   "But then, we saw that Obi-Wan doth look upon  ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
      //   Qui-Gon with lust, and that Mr. Lucas was not  || R I C H I E >> \\
      \\  likely to include that in the next movie, so we ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> //
      // said screw it and wrote it ourselves." - Warning ||                \\
      \\   page of the 'Master & Apprentice' slash site   ||                //
      //==fdd-tmar@netactive.co.za=Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie==\\
      
      "Let's face it: *slash* is in the details." - Julad
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sat, 1 Sep 2001 23:54:32 -0700
      From:    Lynn <lloschin@sprynet.com>
      Subject: Re: Trilby's Con Reports
      
      From: "Trilby" <trilby23@bellsouth.net>
      
      > > And I wouldn't mind hearing reports from a few other folks,
      particularly
      > > since it sounds like there was so much good stuff to do that
      > > one person couldn't catch everything.
      >
      > That's absolutely true.  I missed a lot of programming that I would
      > have dearly loved to see, because I wanted to take the classes.
      > One "con veteran" said she thought there was too much "down
      > time".  Different strokes, I guess - for this ConVirgin, there was
      no
      > down time at all!
      
      LOL -- we read that on one (and only one) of the evaluations and we
      just blinked!  Down time?  Programming schedule (with guests): Friday:
      1 pm - 6:30; 7:30 - 11 pm; Saturday: 9 am - noon, 12:30 - 7:00, 9 pm -
      midnight; Sunday, 10 am - noon and 1 - 5 pm.
      
      If there was down time, the staff definitely missed it!
      
      Lynn
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sun, 2 Sep 2001 09:09:02 EDT
      From:    Dotiran@aol.com
      Subject: Re: Trilby's Con Reports
      
      In a message dated 9/2/2001 1:55:25 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
      lloschin@sprynet.com writes:
      
      
      > Down time?
      
      DOWN TIME???
      Sessions were back to back -- literally !! and since I didn't want to miss a
      thing (and felt I had "grown" roots into my chair after three days *g*) I had
      to run to get to the bathroom and resorted to running across the street to
      Taco Bell for a $1.78 dinner at one point just to save time. In another
      thread here I will post my own con memories, tried to do it earlier and
      discovered we have a 400 word limit on this list *g*
      
      ------------------------------
      
      Date:    Sun, 2 Sep 2001 09:13:51 EDT
      From:    Dotiran@aol.com
      Subject: My turn: Reunion-part 1
      
      In the beautiful, full color, classy program booklet, weread that the Reunio=
      n=20
      was dedicated to the memory of Myles Ferguson. There wasa photo and tribute=20
      to him. I knew immediately that this con had heart.
      =20
      I can't comment on the many exciting sword and fan classesbecause I didn't=20
      attend any.  If wecould have watched I would have been there, but &quot;hand=
      s=20
      on&quot; work wasnot my cup of tea.::::images of pacifist weilding sword::::=
      a=20
      danger toall::::::*g*
      =20
      Thanks to easily accessible hotel fast food and bathroomfacilities, I was=20
      able to make all but one of the sessions in theauditorium.  No mean feat.=20
      What aschedule !! My dead center reserved seat was well used. It=E2=80=99s a=
       wonder I=20
      didn=E2=80=99tplant roots there and grow green leaves out of the top of my h=
      ead.
      =20
      Maureen Russell's film clips from &quot;Best ofHighlander&quot; were=20
      enticing. She made me realize how very much footage shehad that was *not*=20
      used from her interviews and I long for all of it.  There were some very=20
      funny PW and JB clipsthat revealed their easy camaraderie (though that=20
      footage was later eclipsed aswe saw them bantering for real right before our=
      =20
      eyes.)
      =20
      The next session with Elizabeth, Nadia (and Big John) wassimply charming.=20
      Both women are beyond beautiful. They each have a remarkablepresence. They=20
      were a study in dark and light contrasts. Nadia's skin is what Iwould term=20
      translucent.  (Quite byaccident I wound up in the ladies room with them righ=
      t=20
      before that session andseeing them up close, both so tall and willowy, only=20
      enhanced my appreciationof their beauty, and their charm. They were just=20
      being girls together.)  Their session was open, forthcoming anddelightful.=20
      Nadia said that she and her handsome husband John, who is a writerand who wa=
      s=20
      at the convention with her, also have a website(websitewriters.com) that is=20
      her non- acting job. Others have told  of her delightful stories of not=20
      recognizingAP the first day on her HL job, and of her calling him Andre. =20
      Nadia also mentioned that Adrian calls herwhenever he is in her town and the=
      y=20
      often have dinner.=20
      =20
      (Interestingly enough PW had a very similar story of AP'svisits to him) The=20=
      &
      quot;bonding&quot; of many of these actors with one anotherthrough their wor=
      k=20
      on Highlander, their obvious affection for one another, wasone of the=20
      recurrent themes and the most &quot;real&quot;, visible and lastingmemory I=20
      cherish from this convention. (It is all the more remarkable because if one=20
      can believe even half ofwhat one reads in entertainment magazines, it is not=
      =20
      the &quot;usual&quot; wayof things in the business.  I read thatafter almost=
      =20
      8 years on the XFiles, DD and GA, costars, have almost zerorelationship off=20
      screen. When DD and his wife had a baby last year theyreportedly didn't even=
      =20
      get a note from GA.)=20
      The portrayal of intimate and complex friendships among themain characters,=20
      especially the men --which is rarely attempted on television--was one of the=
      =20
      major accomplishments of HL:TS.    The genuine and visible affection and=20
      respect these actorscontinue to have for one another is a tribute to them al=
      l=20
      as admirable humanbeings. =20
      =20
      Stan Kirsch was his usual charming, boyish and very funnyself.  He said that=
      =20
      his movie &quot;TheFlunky&quot; has, at this time, no US distributor. One=20
      interesting tidbit hementioned was that he was once an SAT math tutor and=20
      said acting is a piece ofcake compared to that.  At the moment heis still=20
      taking acting classes and he teaches them to beginners.  The session was a=20
      bit ruined for me becausesome of the fans within my range of hearing were ou=
      t=20
      of control IMO and some ofthe comments were between rude and lewd. Or both.
      =20
      I missed much of James Horan's commentary on Band ofBrothers (but for a very=
      =20
      good reason) though the part I did see was riveting.He seemed to have a grea=
      t=20
      many fans in the audience.
      I shortened my time in JH=E2=80=99s session only because one of myprimary go=
      als in=20
      attending Reunion (and the reason I registered for it longbefore Adrian Paul=
      =20
      had confirmed *g*) is that I have never had a chance to seeor meet Donna=20
      Lettow. (I had the joy of seeing Gillian Horvath last year atGathering 5,  =20
      and was impressed withher youth, voluptuousness [is it ok to say that?], her=
      =20
      relaxed, joyous,energetic spirit, and her humorous and intelligent stage=20
      presence. If it ispossible, she was even more delightful on all those levels=
      =20
      at this convention*and* I got her autograph in my copy of &quot;Evening at=20
      Joe's&quot; which Ilugged from South Bend just for that purpose.)
      =20
      But somehow or other, I had never been at a convention withDonna Lettow. For=
      =20
      lo these many years I have read her witty, articulate,biting, knowledgeable=20
      and impassioned posts on AOL, on ATH, and even for an alltoo brief time on=20
      the old Rysher forum. Like many of you I believe her novel&quot;The Zealot&
      quot; is the finest of the Highlander novels, and a trulygreat novel even=20
      without the Highlander connection. I admire genius wherever Ifind it.  I=20
      truly wanted to meet DonnaLettow. I lined up outside the autograph room and=20
      once inside had the fun ofactually getting to *thank* these wonderful people=
      =20
      who brought the magic of Highlanderinto being -- like Ken Gord and F.Braun=20
      McAsh.    Clutching my &quot;Watchers Chronicles&quot; in my hand, (I'dlugge=
      d=20
      that in great hope all the way from South Bend too) I met theenthusiastic,=20
      young, Donna. She surprised me by actually standing up to give mea hug. (The=
      =20
      online experience is amazing, so many of us feel as if we've knowneach other=
      =20
      for years) I was deeply honored and touched. She may deny it :) butDL is=20
      downright cute.  [ducking] Warmthand tenderness are right there on the=20
      surface along with the expected brashcompetency. Heavens! Her battle scars=20
      don't even show :)
      =20
      The next session was the &quot;Readings from Evening atJoe's&quot;.  If=20
      gluttony is a sin, thenbless me father for I have gorged. What a feast. I ha=
      d=20
      already read the entirebook, but was awed by the power of Jim Byrne reading=20
      his poignant contribution.Ocean Hellman, Ginjer Buchanan, Laura Brennan,=20
      Darla Kershner, F.Braun McAsh,Ken Gord, Maury Ruvinsky (sp?), Gillian=20
      Horvath, Donna Lettow, AnthonydeLongis, were all on this panel as well.=20
      Highlights were Ken Gord and Jim Byrne reading Gord=E2=80=99s very funny hoc=
      keystory=20
      , and Stan Kirsch re-rendering a tragic reading into a comedy.  Stan Kirsch=20
      will have missed his calling inlife if he doesn't do more comedy. The man ha=
      s=20
      a natural talent in that area.
      =20
      Having never seen the Script to Screen presentation thatDonna and Gillian do=
      ,=20
      I was thrilled to finally catch up with it. I loved everyeducational and=20
      humorous moment from hearing about the &quot;pitch&quot; to the&quot;rewrite=
      &
      quot;, and on to post production . Now I know what all thosecolor pages mean=
      =20
      in a script. Now I know how many pages of script it takes tofilm. I see even=
      =20
      more powerfully how very collaborative the television mediumis. I see the=20
      importance of the producer and the need for an in-house writingstaff that is=
      =20
      consistent and understands the show.  In the Q and A that followed the Scrip=
      t=20
      to Screen presentation,they said that their new show, Myth Quest will air on=
      =20
      PBS in January. I'm surewe'll all be eager to see that.
      =20
      The evening session with F.Braun and Anthony was more than Ihad expected. I=20
      had seen them do a sword demo before, but never with quite thefullness and=20
      good humor of this one, and NEVER with the speed at which theywould finally=20
      perform it. It was totally frightening. Only the knowledge thatthese men=20
      loved life, trusted one another, and were good enough to have controlin that=
      =20
      situation, kept me from jumping up and running - screaming - from theroom=20
      once they put the whole fight into action.
      =20
      Saturday morning found me up bright and early to catch theWriter=E2=80=99s R=
      oom that=20
      Donna and Ginjer presented. It was fascinating to see how tooutline an=20
      episode right there on the spot even though I don=E2=80=99t write fictionand=
       so I=20
      wasn=E2=80=99t really creative enough to share in the process. This wasfollo=
      wed by =20
      the delightful andinformative =E2=80=9CPen vs. The Sword=E2=80=9D with Gilli=
      an Horvath,=20
      F.Braun McAsh and AnthonydeLongis.
      =20
      And then it was time for=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6and Hou=
      r with Adrian Paul. Ican only reiterate=20
      what others have said. I have never seen him so radiant,bouncy, funny,=20
      energized. His presence on stage was, as always, electrifying.He seemed=20
      visibly happy. He is, if it is possible, more devastatingly handsomethan=20
      ever. Surely he has a portrait aging in an attic somewhere! Among his=20
      manyprojects he mentioned having done a small role in a movie called Storm=20
      Watch.He mentioned that a new PEACE website will soon be up as well as the=20
      Trackersite and that both would have message boards on them. At the Origins=20
      conventionin Columbus a few weeks earlier, some of us had noticed a rather=20
      large scrapeon AP=E2=80=99s  right elbow.  Here, he described the rollerblad=
      e=20
      accident that caused it. In fact, he acted itout. It was both frightening an=
      d=20
      hilarious. He mentioned that the Peacefund isbeing restructured, getting a=20
      Board of Directors, and that among the things he=E2=80=99d like to dois set=20=
      up a=20
      soccer tournament with celebrities as a fundraiser.
      =20
      Immediately after AP left the stage it was time for a Q andA with Peter=20
      Wingfield and Ocean Hellman. Some tidbits from the Q and A: In aWilderness=20
      movie PW just finished he had to play a Scottish Presbyterian. Hehad only a=20
      few days to acquire a Scottish accent so he rented a Braveheart tapeand=20
      played it over and over again. He said he has no idea what his accent=20
      willsound like. PW loved the Horseman script and as he was first reading it=20
      he saidhe couldn=E2=80=99t believe such a great script could be in his hands=
       to play=20
      insteadof Brad Pitt. When asked what their most interesting job ever was,=20
      both Oceanand Peter said it was =E2=80=9Cbeing a mom.=E2=80=9D Peter said th=
      is with a=20
      twinkle in his eye,but meant it because of how challenging it is. PW said=20
      among his other wild jobs in life he was once a kids partyentertainer and he=
      =20
      once had a job washing instruments from the operating room.
      =20
      The next panel (and yes these are quite literally back toback) was =E2=80=
      =9CStories=20
      from the Set=E2=80=9D and featured Nadia Cameron-Blakey, Anthony deLongis, O=
      cean=20
      Hellman, James Horan, Tracy Scoggins, Bruce Young and a surprisevisit from=20
      Richard Lynch (from =E2=80=9CBlind Faith=E2=80=9D). One story Tracy Scoggins=
       told concerned=20
      her stint on The Colby=E2=80=99s  when Adrian was on that show. In oneepisod=
      e,=20
      Adrian=E2=80=99s character, the Russian ballet dancer, is supposed to jumpfr=
      om a=20
      balcony and Tracy=E2=80=99s line afterwards was =E2=80=9Cit=E2=80=99s a good=
       thing you are adancer,=20
      anyone else would be injured.=E2=80=9D She complained that the line was real=
      ly dumb=20
      and Charlton Heston said=E2=80=9Cit was supposed to be my line, but I wouldn=
      =E2=80=99t say=20
      it so they gave it toyou.=E2=80=9D  Ocean Hellman talked about amovie shoot=20=
      she did=20
      once where they used instant potato flakes for snow, and itstarted to mist=20
      and she wound up covered with mashed potatoes.
      =20
      The next panel featured David Abramowitz, Bill Panzer, andKen Gord.  The=20
      proverbial TPTB.  It was a treat to listen to these men. Amongthe things BP=20
      is working on now is another series tentatively called Trinity, abroadway=20
      musical, a DVD of Season 1 (supposedly due out the first week inNovember),=20
      another movie with the =E2=80=9CMiramoids=E2=80=9D (Miramax) called The Sour=
      ce, andhe is=20
      thinking of putting out a CD of scripts. David A. closed the session by=20
      singing a Jewish blessing. It waspowerful.
      =20
      Next we had a panel on the Ethical Issues in Highlanderfeaturing David=20
      Abramowitz, Jim Byrnes, Elizabeth Gracen, Donna Lettow, andPeter Wingfield.=20=
      =20
      Some of the moraldilemmas (represented by a video collage from various=20
      relevant episodes) were:Can a man of honor break an oath?  Honorand Pride,=20
      Keeping promises, Surviving, and Redemption. One of DA=E2=80=99s great lines=
      : =E2=80=9CJoe=20
      was perfectly consistent in his human inconsistencies=E2=80=9D
      =20
      Then came the auction. Others have reported on it, I willsimply agree. From=20
      the opening with GH and DL through the moment when AdrianPaul joined EG and=20
      SK to pump up the action, the auction provided some of thebest entertainment=
      =20
      in any convention I have attended. If AP ever quits his dayjob, he can becom=
      e=20
      an auctioneer.  Theauction was hilarious and exhausting, and it lasted over=20
      an hour and a half--but I didn=E2=80=99t want it to end.=20
      =20
      
      ------------------------------
      
      End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 30 Aug 2001 to 2 Sep 2001 - Special issue (#2001-251)
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