.MEMBER OF THE MONTH
introducing The Fascinating SHARA

I was born and raised in Saskatoon, SK. I am 23 years old. I have my BA in archaeology and plan to go back to school soon to get my Masters degree.. I am a huge history buff and I love to read. My favorite authors include Nora Roberts, Tami Hoag, and Kathrine O'Niell. My favorite periods in history include classical Greece, Paleolithic time period in the Middle East, and 16th century England.  My favorite outdoor activities includes Hiking and swimming. I  always look forward to watching Raven each Sunday.

MEMBER OF THE MONTH is selected randomly from the RFWP database and all comments and remarks are published here with their prior approval.

Wanna Join the Gang?? RFWP recruitment is on the rise for all fans of Highlander: The Raven!  If you watch the show, you already have all the qualifications you need to become a bona fide RFWP Wolf or Possum.  Membership details can be found at the RFWP site. 
 

And an additional note:  We have a new member, Kristine Kristiansen, from Denmark who tells me chocolate is king there at Easter as well. 

Raven Awards!!!
(Produced by EmmyZ!!)

Well, folks, have we got something exciting planned for April and May! Here's your chance to nominate your favorites in a number of seriously cool categories!  The categories are listed below so get your nominations in soon at this link  Mister Poll Raven link    Just so that you are aware, you can choose the "Other" option to nominate choices not shown.  After we get the nominations, they'll be tallied and you Pack Members will have the opportunity to vote on the top choices in each category.   We'll have the final voting after the last first run episode in May.  Then at the end of May we'll be having an awards party on the forum where the winners will be announced.  So you all get out your video tapes and watch those eps again ( What a great excuse to do something fun, huh?  Thanks EmmyZ!) and MAKE NOTES!   An additional note:  the  categories themselves are open to suggestion, so if you think of other categories, suggest that too.

AND THE CATEGORIES ARE.....

Name the Award

Favorite Flashback

Nick: Clean shaven or stubble

Favorite Hairstyle for Nick

Favorite Hairstyle for Amanda

Favorite Costume, Amanda, Present 

Favorite Costume, Amanda, Flashback

Favorite Sword Fight

Favorite One Liner

Favorite Scene

Favorite Episode

Favorite Recurring Character

Favorite K'Immie

Favorite Quickening

Best Director

Best Writer

Most Interesting bit of Information about Amanda

Most Interesting bit of Information about Nick

Best Performance by Elizabeth Gracen (episode)

Best Performance by Paul Johansson (episode)

Best Performance by a Guest Star

Best Supporting Actor/Actress

Name the City

Best Musical Score
 

RAVEN EPISODE OF THE MONTH We get a truly exceptional Highlander story with Passion Play.  Amanda seems unfeeling in a sense; she is looking at the whole thing in terms of the Game. Immortals kill immortals-get over it.  And if you are going to have a relationship with an immortal, be prepared to lose them.  Yet she can also be perceived as more knowledgeable and understanding of the mistakes humans make and the way they sometimes refuse to remember their own mistakes as they truly happened, needing to see themselves in a little better light.  Nick and Lucy clearly are seeing this whole issue from a different perspective which sets them at odds with Amanda.  The definitive scene was after Lucy mistakenly shoots at Nick.  Amanda: "She knows the game, it wasn't personal."   Nick  "Here's a headline for you, okay.  She loved him, that made it personal."  Amanda: "I can't expect you to understand what I'm talking about."  Nick: "Here we go again, right!  This was the one true love of her life.  You can tell every time she talks about him; you can see it in her face.  We're not like you, we don't live forever, we get maybe one shot at it."  Nick prepares to leave. Amanda: "Where are you going?"  Nick: "Making it personal."  It's no game to him, and he most certainly doesn't view it from the immortal standpoint of "Hey, that's the way it goes." What he sees is that Wilson murdered the love of Lucy's life, and that makes Wilson a bad guy, period,  where Amanda took a balanced look at it from many different possible truths.  It was intriguing to have the whole issue presented in psychologically more complex fashion.  Or then again, maybe Amanda's sense of personal loyalty just isn't that strong.  Lucy: "He was here?"  Amanda: "Yes, looking for you."  Lucy: "And you're telling me he left with his head still attached to his body?  Did you offer him tea and cookies, too?"

.WHO'S DOIN' WHAT Alice in Stonyland was recently interviewed for Voices Anthology Site, a site where her fanfic has been selected by the archivist for having "strong true-to-character depict ions of canon characters, with varied and interesting plots and styles that are not overt slash or crossover."  The archivist, Mary Galasso, has been reading many of the Amanda stories she's written.  Alice has been asked to give her viewpoints on balancing the canon of both HL:TS and HL:TR, as well as background information on Alice.  Congratulations, Alice!  That's quite an achievement!  You can read the full interview at http://members.tripod.com/ggalasso/interviel.htm .  Alice has also recently finished writing her 25th Highlander related fanfic called "I'd Give Anything," which is available at her site http://www.bigfoot.com/~stonyland .  Karla Brady spends most of her spare time staying in touch with all of the RFWP fans (sounds like a worthwhile occupation, doesn't it?)  Shipperchick finally got her own computer, and is studying for her mid-terms in between shaking her fist at TPTB for the Raven bad news.  Daire is working on her "Inferno" cast and clips up and ready for us, as well as saving up to relocate.  Archangel is currently helping his sister who is laid up for the next few weeks with a broken ankle, as well as planning the 8th annual Camp Dover Peace Conference (one of the top Star Trek conventions in the NE United States and refining his skills at the Highlander CCG.  Miss Beth is off to San Antonio to visit her sister-in-law, nephew, and brand new niece.  Her brother is in Korea for another few months.  Her latest drawing is the "Cigarette-Smoking Man for First Light's March issue.  You can find it at http://www.purplepens.com.  There's also a Nick and Amanda in the archives there that were on the October cover. Foxy is off to Paris with Renaissance MacWoW and Mimi MacWoW.  They'll be meeting with Jette while they're there and visiting some HL sites.  Ninja22 is hard at work studying for exams.  Kurgan has been trying to call Davis Panzer and is only getting a machine no matter what time he calls.  Interesting, hmmm?  Maybe we're putting a little pressure on. Jette just got  back from Paris where a friend actually was on the Raven set during the taping of the last episode.  She says she has some great spoilers; maybe if we ask real nice she'll tell.  Marianne  recently posted a fanfic called "Queen of Hearts" to her Magnificent Seven website that features her own original Immortal character, who will be appearing in fanfics with MacLeod soon. She says some feedback from other highlander fans on how she comes across would be welcome. She's sort of a cross between MacLeod, Amanda, Ceirdwyn and Methos. (heckuva mix, huh?)  Charles Cooke added a scanner to his computer setup.  He's working on learning to do screen captures and frus. He's contemplating creating a Web site for his photos, which we'll look forward to but has mastered turning 35mm photos into files suitable for e-mailing, which he proved by sending a photo to Night Owl McMerlin.  Hmmm, wonder if we can get Night Owl to fru it for us?  Just kidding, Charles, don't panic :>)  Georgette has renamed and redecorated her site.  It's now called Highlander Oasis, and it's a work of art!  Check it out!

AN OWL'S THEORY
(contributed by Night Owl) The truth is, Nick *is* immortal, but even Amanda is unaware of it because he is a different breed of immortal--- a *werewolf!*  Of course werewolves don't come into their special power until they have died the first time, just like immies, then at sometime before the funeral they metamorphose into their wolfe form, and disappear, just like the elvish crossbreed immies do.  Anyway, you can probably see where this is going---sometime early in the second season there needs to be an episode where Nick gets killed, (leaving Amanda desolate) then a dramatic scene in the morgue where he metamorphoses into a wolfe, (frightening the morgue attendant out of his wits) and takes off.  Of course he immediately sets out to find Amanda and quite startles her when this huge, happy looking wolf turns up, panting for attention!  But she has already heard about the disappearing body and she is getting this variant kind of immie buzz, so she figures it all out  and she exclaims "Nick?" gets a tailwagging response with an affirmative whine, and she throws her arms around the handsome creature and gives him a hug and a kiss right in the middle of his furry forehead, and the shock causes him to revert to his Human Form, and Amanda finds herself with an armful of Naked Nick!!!
Graphic by Rebecca Kemp)
 Wildlife-Fantasy

Q#EDITORIAL
AMANDA: THE IMMORTAL COMMUNICATOR  There's been an awful lot of negative attitudes on the Rysher Forums lately.  Visiting the HLTS Forum is often like going into a war zone (and it wasn't ALWAYS that way either), and even Rysher Central got a bit scary this past month with the SOF invasion stalking Ravenites.  Things seem to have mellowed out a bit on the Raven Forum, but how long THAT will last is a good question. 
    What is difficult to understand is why folks just can't get along in cyberspace.  Unlike real life, where finding oneself in a difficult situation it is even MORE difficult not to at least toss an evil side glance toward an uncivilized person, cyberlife is shrouded by the mask of anonymity.  While it seems very clear some folks choose to use this "anonymity" to vent their own personal frustrations in very negative ways, it also seems a very clear path in exercising positive communication skills.  Unlike in real life, where one may find oneself trapped inside public transportation with a soul of profound rudeness, in cyberspace is the ability to just "ignore." True, this ignore option is available in real life as well, but it is even more astounding in cyberspace because said Negative Nellie doesn't even know if someone else is THERE, much less reading what they've written.
    A lot of positive communication skills can be seen in the character of our beloved Amanda, who always seems to have a quip or two in the face of adversity (sometimes with that familiar humorously delivered cutting edge).  She seems to like everyone she meets (whether or not she truly likes them), and even when she is not too terribly fond of someone (such as Bert), she still delivers a polite smile. 
    Amanda certainly has other faults which may or may not make her a *perfect* role model, but to be guided by her ability to positively communicate even in the face of adversity is a very fine thing.

COMING NEXT MONTH We'll have some interesting news for you about an "Official Paul Johansson" web site Firinn's working on in addition to her web page for Paul's movie "Conversations in Limbo."  As soon as she gets final approval we'll provide the link to it.  Let me just say you're gonna love it!  And just wait til you see the pictures of Paul! There's some talk about a Paul Johansson Fan Club being formed, so be sure and watch for news on that.  And, of course the Raven Awards Party on Howly Ground at the end of May.  Losin it's project is getting close to completion, we'll keep you posted.