mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Masquerade

Chuck vs. the Masquerade

Season 4, Episode 16, original air-date February 21, 2011

Chuck and Sarah's Valentine's Day is put on hold when they must travel to England to protect an oil baron's daughter. A mysterious woman makes Casey a compelling offer. Ellie and Devon receive parenting help from an unusual source.


So it's Friday.

And the episode aired on Monday.

And here's our review. On a Friday.

You know, this is one of those times I could blame a minion.  Isn't that what I have minions for?  To blame?  You're right, even though this may have been my fault (it's been a crazy week), I'll pin this on a minion.  Ready?

The reason this review is late is Crystal's fault.  Enjoy!  Remember: I'm the shark!

- Frea

The Art of Storytelling

Well, that’s a pretentious title, if I’ve ever heard one. Also, kind of clichéd. Let’s see, what would a better moniker for this series be?

Like a Roller-Coaster, But Less Fun (for the writer) works.

Stories are all about give-and-take, push-and-pull, and a thousand other variations of the same cliché. I once got a really great review from Chris that explains this exact principle and why it can be applied to music, storytelling, pretty much anything artistic.

So, I had this instructor in school. He taught Pop Music, and it was all about popular music in America. He told us that a lot of kids asked him what he thought made music "good." He accepted the term was loose and variable, but said that in his opinion, the one thing he really looked for, was a cycle of tension and release, release and tension.

This was a review for chapter 28 of What Fates Impose: Pick a Little, Talk a Little, which to me is the last breathing space we got before the Heartbrake Hotel and DC arcs (or, if you’re really sardonic, the “Chuck and Sarah Deal with Their Exes” part of the story).

ONE YEAR!

So...we made it.

Oh, wait, that was a dumb thing to say.  The story's not finished yet.  I still have a whole book and a third of a book left to add to What Fates Impose.  But today, February 18, 2011, Fates officially celebrates "A Year in Print."

But looking back in the past year, I have:

• 46 chapters of What Fates Impose
• 4 chapters of To Resist Both Wind and Tide
• 6 chapters of Fortune Favors Fools
• 341,346 words (of Fates) according to fanfiction.net, 299,920 words according to MS Word
• 747 pages
• 10 individual stories in the Fatesverse, with narrators including Ellie, Sarah, Chuck, and Frank
• In Fates alone:
• 58 individuals uses of the word "Crap"
• 243 uses of "Hell."
• 1412 em-dashes.
• 3388 uses of the name "Sarah."
• 5226 uses of either "Chuck" or "chuck"
• And oddly enough, only 1 use of the word "Willies"
• Only written 1 Fringe story. Hmm.

Man, what a lazy year.

Speaking of lazy, it was my goal to have a really great chapter ready for everybody to read, kind of a victory "Yay, it's a year and 341k words later and we're all still here!"  Unfortunately, a headcold/migraine/nausea came out of nowhere and kicked my butt, and then I got bogged down with homework, making this a very depressing story.

HOWEVER, there are a few things I'd like to say.

A Day In the Life of Crystal

I know this isn't Chuck-related, but it's kind of writing-related, and this is a writing blog, so...yes. And besides, if some of you were wondering where the hell I've been, well, maybe this will answer at least a bit of that question. 


Anywho, I just had an in-class assignment for my Intermediate Fiction Writing class, where we had to write a short story of an event that takes place in a 24-hour period, summarized in 1-3 lines in hourly intervals. I had so much fun with it that I thought I'd share it with you all. Hopefully it gives you a laugh or two. :) Enjoy! 

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Cat Squad

Chuck vs. the C.A.T. Squad

Season 4, Episode 15, original air-date February 14, 2011

Chuck gets more than he bargained for when he reunites Sarah with her former team. Morgan's ex-girlfriend is back in town.


Hey, look, it's Mini Anden, the awesome guest star of Chuck Vs. the Wookie!  Surely that means this episode has to rock, right?  

Why is everybody laughing? Guys?

To see what mxpw and I thought, hit the break.  You should be proud -- not a single one of us used the word "pussy"--oh, crap, broke that record.  Either way, you should still click the link.  We promise only about 60% of it is mxpw drooling over Mini Anden.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So bad news: I was supposed to deck out the blog for Valentine's Day.  I even got the fabulous crystal.elements to make me a fabulous banner and everything, and this morning when I woke up, I thought, "Hmm, I was supposed to do something today," and then promptly forgot about it.

Which means no V-Day layout.  HOWEVER, Crystal did such a fantastic job with the banner, I want to share it here:

Is that not the most awesome thing you've seen all day?  (Hint: the correct answer to that question is yes)

And to apologize for not dazzling your world with Morgasey, I've made you a gift: I converted the old story Chuck vs. the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Really Bad Day (Okay, this bugs me since that book was my favorite when I was, like, six. IT SHOULD BE VERY, NOT REALLY) into an ebook, and it's available on our ebooks page, right there up at the top!

Have a great Valentine's Day, everybody! Sorry it's not chocolates, but I love each and every one of you.

Except for you.  You know who I'm talking about.

Frea

Oh, right.

I kicked the writer's block.  Fates 46: My Favorite Russian is live, and look for Fates 47: TBD on Friday.

Frea

PS - There's an important birthday coming up.  Look for presents on the blog on Friday, or more likely Thursday, as Friday's a busy day for me.

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Seduction Impossible

Chuck vs. the Seduction Impossible

Season 4, Episode 14, original air-date: February 7, 2011

Chuck, Sarah, and Casey must travel to Morocco to rescue suave former agent Roan Montgomery. Morgan meet's Alex's mother, and Mary Bartowski acclimates herself to civilian life and spends time with her new granddaughter.

Just a warning: one of us loved the episode and the other one of us is biased. How could he not be? There was belly-dancing. No, let me reiterate: there was SARAH WALKER belly-dancing. It could have been 42 minutes of nothing but Chuck reading the phone book, but as long as Sarah was belly-dancing by in that outfit at any point in the proceedings, it would be the best episode EVAR.

The cherry on top of this all? Hit the link for more.

mxpw vs. Frea - Season 4

Season Four

Chuck vs. the Anniversary - Chuck vs. the Pushmix

More than a few people have wondered what mxpw and Frea have thought of the first thirteen episodes in total.  And we hate to disappoint (well, mxpw does.  Frea gets a huge kick out of it), so we sat down to do a special edition mxpw vs. Frea.

Read our thoughts, after the break.

Fun link

If you're anything like Chris, I know at the moment I'm writing this, you're probably getting drunk and getting ready to scream your head off at your Superbowl team of choice (I'm going for the Packers, personally, as that was my grandpa's team, and I think it's so neat that his team is going to the Superbowl this year of all years).  Thankfully, this post will still be here later, or whenever you check it.  I love the Internet.

The real point, after the break.

Fates 46: The Chapter That Never Ends

Fates 46 sneak peek after the break.

:)

Frea

Frea vs. mxpw - Chuck vs. the Push Mix

Chuck vs. the Push Mix

Season 4, Episode 13, original air-date January 31, 2011

Chuck and Morgan embark on a mission to take down Alexei Volkoff, while Sarah tries to rescue Chuck's mom. Casey tries to get to know his daughter better, and Ellie eases Devon into fatherhood.


So I think that Castle Inanity has been getting a bit of a reputation as "those jerks that don't like the show" and seem determined to ruin it for everybody else.  I suppose that's a better rep than those mean, mean bloggers that kick puppies and tell children Santa Claus is coming to gun them down, but it still makes me sad.  I think the problem is, I grew up getting my daily nourishment from TelevisionWithoutPity, whose philosophy is "Spare the snark, spoil the network."  I can't speak for Maximus, but to me, it kind of feels like being the teacher forced to watch that bright, could-get-a-scholarship student in the front row hand in lazy, sloppy work week after week.  Neither of us hates the show, nor is anywhere close to it, and we probably never will be.  And we don't hate anybody for liking the show when we find faults in it, nor do we think their opinions are wrong; opinions are opinions, and everybody has them.

Besides, how could you hate this?

The review's after the break. (And thanks to Strahology for the GIF that means mxpw will never again be able to function in normal society)

Chuck's Stable of Hos vs. Castle Inanity: Pushin' and Mixin'

If you've been following me on Twitter, you've probably heard about my newfound friendship with the awesome Yokaputo.  Heck, I think I even proposed to her earlier today, but we're still trying to figure out if I'm Dan or Blair or Chuck (and that's two shows referenced there, for the record).  But anyway, there's a story going on here, and I'm going to get out the puppets to tell this.