Monday Gazette

Hello, lovelies!

I’m a little more recovered than I was last week. I love jetlag. Some important announcements! We’re up to chapter 9 of My Girl Sarah, and that chapter’s a pretty important one, as it kicks off the second half of the story and things are only going to get twistier from here on out. You can read that on my ff-net account. Please keep in mind that though we’re posting it under my name, mxpw is my co-writer on this, and not just in name either. He did half the writing and half the plotting but only one third of the whining. Trying to guess who wrote which chapter is a useless task because our co-writing doesn’t usually work like that, though you have been amusing the two of us greatly with your guesses, so thank you for that!).

Other announcements: I’ve gone through and updated my FAQ page, which you can read here. It has more answers about That Which is Greater stories in progress, and even more importantly, a new page I’ve added to my blog: My Transformative Works Policy.

Yes, I have one of those now (for the record: it’s a statement saying it’s okay to make stuff based on stuff I make). This was not something I ever thought I needed, as I’ve stated before that I would love to see sequels/prequels/meta of my work, as long as it’s credited. But I got approached by somebody wanted to podfic one of my stories, and I realized that I probably needed one of those. You know, officially. So I’ve posted that here, on my LJ, and on my Dreamwidth that I don’t really use. I hope you find it amusing, at the very least.

There are some more tiny fics. Good old Steampunk.Chuckster (who will not be writing the rest of Curtain Call—that was a joke) was having a bad day the other day so for every anonymous message she received, I wrote a new snippet of Chuckfic. And then I opened up my inbox for prompts for the night. So here’s a list:

• Incoming (Greater)
• Medaling in Pop Culture (Set, Spike, Dive!)
• Trailer of Tetris (Curtain Call)
• Y: The Last Graphic Novel (Fates)
• Sarah adopts a dog (Orphan Black)
• John Casey is asked to be a Godfather (Chuck)
• How to Piss Off Frea O’Scanlin (Chuck, canon compliant)
• The Rocketeerman (Avengers/The Rocketeer)
• Girls’ Night (Avengers/Chuck)
• The Magic of Tumblr (Avengers)
• The Horrible Hawkeye Essay (Hawkguy)

They haven’t been added to my archive yet, but they will be soon. In addition, I’ve gone through and added summaries to all of the fics on my archive. You just need to hover your mouse over the title.

Hope everybody else’s weekend was productive or relaxing, whatever you needed it to be!

Stay sexy,
Frea

ANNOUNCEMENT: MY GIRL SARAH HAS LANDED

Okay, after leaving you guys on a cliff for a couple of weeks, I can finally announce the thing I’ve been so excited about sharing for nearly a month now. Ready? Really, ready?

MXPW AND I HAVE CREATED FICTION.

It’s called My Girl Sarah, it takes place in 1949, it’s very, very AU, and best part: it’s complete. It’s a Chuck/Sarah story, though I warn you, we’re not going to throw them right together or anything. So if you’re looking for already!married Chuck and Sarah, you should probably go elsewhere. But if you’re looking for any of the following:

• Sassy Carina
• Even sassier Sarah
• Casey the 1940s hardened police detective
• Chuck who fought in WWII and has conviction
• Ellie destroying the glass ceiling
• Gangsters (though I don’t think we ever use the word in the story), mobsters, and pretty much every Chuck villain under the sun sporting fedoras and machine guns
• Bad puns, worse comebacks, and a masked vigilante…

THIS IS TOTALLY THE STORY FOR YOU.

Now, I know you have some questions, and I’ve anticipated a few of them, so I’m going to answer them here.

Greater Eve

News! So tomorrow I’m posting the next chapter of That Which is Greater, which I’m pleased to announce is called Riding in Cars with Villains (the last chapter was Riding in Cars with Boys). If you’ll remember, we’re in the middle of the Zarnow arc, which is a fitting place to end the story, given that the original Greater is thematically about Sarah and Chuck coming to terms that he’s the Intersect. Some things will be different, others the same. I’m sure those of you who read Fates are shocked that I borrow from canon and then sometimes twisted canon. SHOCKED.

I can’t give you a time that the chapter will drop other than “when I remember I’m posting a chapter today,” sorry. Sometimes I am flaky.

Other Greater news! I’ve figured out the next story somewhat, though I don’t want to give too much away. I will say a couple of things about it, though: one, I had to change a date in Greater: Pumpkin Carving to give myself a little room to play for the story. Two, we won’t see Peyman Alahi or the Nadan-I-Noor in Greater, so it’s not going to be the plot of Wookie. I’ll explain why not in-story, I promise. It’s one of my favorite episodes, so I don’t want to write it (you’ll notice in Fates, I skirted around the edges of it, too, only writing the aftermath in Not in the Stars).

Ebook News! I’ll be updating Nervert’s wonderful Revenge of the Bartowski ebook this week to reflect the latest chapters. When I’m done with That Which is Greater Original Story, I’ll of course offer that full ebook, as well as an ebook that has all of the little stories mixed with the bigger Greater stories. That ebook will get updated every time I finish one of the next three stories, too.

Story News! The Clintasha Promptathon is going on in the Avengers fandom (that’s Clint/Natasha fiction, by the way), and I wrote a couple of stories for it. They’re both short and fluffy, but fun. The Memory of Rain is on my LJ, but Domestic…Bliss? is on AO3 if you want to go there (and leave me shiny, delicious kudos!).

Miscellaneous But Awesome News! So you may not have been aware, but I had two bets going about finishing Greater. I bet mpxw I could finish the entire Greater story before he finished something that I’m not revealing here. He lost, so his avatar is my choice for two weeks….which is Joseph Gordon Levitt in garters. These are going to be an awesome two weeks, guys.

Also, Nervert and I had a bet going about who could finish his or her story first. Loser had to buy a goat. Baaaaaah.

Stay sexy!
Frea

Top 10 20: CHARAH

And here it is, our final Top Ten post. That's right. We've wrapped up an entire week of happy, positive lists...and boy did that take a lot out of us. Thanks to everybody that tagged along for the ride and shared their thoughts. Today's list is special...but only because we couldn't keep it down to 10. Without further ado, we present, in descending order, our top twenty Charah moments!  See you on the other side, homies.

Top 10: Favorite Guest Characters

So Frea and I decided to list our favorite guest characters during the show's run. There will be no pictures accompaning this post. I'm doing this on my own, without the invaluable assitance of the MBO, and she told me I didn't have to tussle with Blogger's photo embedding software. So I will not. Still, I hope you guys enjoy our list and feel free to comment on what you think we got right, what we got wrong, and what we missed.

See the list after the jump!

Top 10: SWP

Frea here. When I gave him this assignment, I do believe mxpw fell to his knees and thanked first the heavens above and then me in that order. Once he was whipped for not fetching me a Dr Pepper before doing so, he immediately set off in a quest to bring you only the purest, best SWP on the planet.

Little did he know that he was about to embark on his own version of Sophie's Choice. But three days later, I went over to his house and found him in the corner, bemoaning the various SWPs he had to leave off of the list. I managed to wrest the list from his hand and have transcribed it thusly. It was a little hard to read with all of the tear stains, but I think this is what Max has reported to be the BEST SWP* of the show.

Enjoy!

*Any SWP is technically the best SWP

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Bullet Train

Chuck vs. the Bullet Train
Season 5, Episode 11, original air-date 20 January, 2012

Sarah and Casey stow away in coffins in order to retrieve Chuck from Quinn on a bullet train in Japan. Things go horribly awry when the Intersect in Sarah's head turns out to be the glitchiest of All the Intersects.

Okay, if you don't follow mxpw or me on Twitter, you may not know that neither of us really likes the storyline going on. And I'll say that up front: we hate it. We hate it so hard that there is copious profanity in the review following, plus a lot of ranting, too. This wasn't an awful episode, and neither of us feel that, on its own, it was terrible, but...

Well, you'll have to click the link to see.

Also, the effects were nearly as bad as Masquerade. And keep in mind that Frea is coming into this episode VERY DISAPPOINTED that her little booger spy man that jumps through donuts and skateboards and jetpacks around WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. Bo

Chuck vs. Bo

Season 5, Episode 10, original air-date 13 January, 2012

When Morgan receives his old Douchersect cell phone and a message that he's hidden something that's in trouble, it's up to the gang to fly to Vail and gas Jeff and Lester a bunch of times with Bazin-Gas, the most convenient joke of all time.

Warning: this was a Newman episode. Expect rainbows. But not....those rainbows.  Yeah, right.  Anywhere, review's just beyond. Click to read.

Castle Review - 4.12 - Dial M for Mayor

Mayor Robert Weldon, Castle's longtime friend and the Mayor of New York City, used his political clout to allow Castle to partner up with Beckett. But now, when a woman is found dead in a car that traces back to the Mayor's motor pool, that partnership comes under fire as the scandal surrounding the investigation threatens to bring down Weldon's administration.

Click the link to see my thoughts for this episode.

Castle Review - 4.11 - 'Till Death do we Part

When a lothario is killed, Castle and Beckett suspect that the victim's mysterious double life holds the key to his murder. Their investigation leads to a shocking twist that threatens to disrupt Ryan's wedding with Jenny.

So what did I think of this episode? Click on the link to find out!

mxpw vs. Frea — Chuck vs. the Kept Man

Chuck vs. the Kept Man
Season 5, Episode 09, original air-date 6 January, 2012

Gertrude Verbanski is back! Casey chafes at having a well-connected and awesome lady-lover. Chuck's a moron. Sarah wins at everything even though everything is wrong.

Sorry for the graphic, everybody*. Frea got bored. Was she bored with this latest episode, or was the wonderful, wonderful Carrie Ann Moss and the even more delightful Gertrude Verbanski enough to make Frea's entire world feel like it was full of kittens, butterflies, and Dr Pepper?

Hint: that sentence probably answers its own question.

With that said, read on, good readers, read on!

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Baby

Chuck vs. the Baby

Season 5, Episode 08, original air-date 30 Dec 2011

When Sarah's old spy handler reappears, she goes off on her own to prevent a secret from her past from destroying her family.

Finally! Another LeJudkins episode! What did Max and Frea think?

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Santa Suit

Chuck vs. the Santa Suit
Season 5, Episode 07, original air-date 23 December, 2001

Shaw returns. Some other stuff happened, but that was the point where Frea stopped caring.

Eh, we say it all in the review. Warning, there's no optimist again. We understand that people liked the episode, yes.

We didn't.

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Curse

Chuck vs. the Curse
Chuck vs. the Subtlety of a Rock to the Face
Season 5, Episode 6, Original Airdate 16 Dec 2011

Chuck's a moron. The rest of the cast is pretty cool. That's your summary.

Warning: there is no optimist this week. NO OPTIMIST AT ALL.

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Hack-Off

Chuck vs. the Hack-Off

Season 05, Episode 05, Original Air-Date 9 December, 2011

Chuck and Sarah infiltrate an unusual cult to find the designer of a computer virus. The Buy More gets a new employee.

If you pay attention to the graphic header, you’ll notice that Frea is the pessimist this week. Does this mean she hated the episode and mxpw loved it? Well, there was naked Sarah…but you might be surprised…

Castle Review - 4.10 - Cuffed

When Castle and Beckett wake up in bed, handcuffed together, in a locked room with no memory of how they got there, they must piece together the mystery of where they are and why, all while trying to escape. But as the two of them adjust to being shackled together, what's the biggest threat they face...the people who abducted them or each other? Meanwhile, Ryan, Esposito and Gates are left to investigate their disappearance in a case where all is not what it seems.

It's The Hangover meets Saw in this week's Castle, as the show returns after a week off with a strong episode. Read on after the jump to see why I liked this episode.

Castle Review - 4.09 - Kill Shot

A sniper on a killing spree is terrorizing New York City. With the clock ticking down to the next murder and nothing to go on except a killer with no apparent motive but to instill terror, this could prove the team's toughest case yet. The hunt is made even more complicated when Beckett begins to experience increasingly strong moments of PTSD - moments she tries hard to hide from Castle and the detectives.

I know, I know, we're changing things up here at Castle Inanity yet again. All I can say is, both Frea and I are pretty busy these days with things in real life (whatever that is) and so we're always looking for things that can make our maintenance of the blog more efficient. To that end, I'm going to be taking over Castle reviewing for the foreseeable future. Don't expect a detailed analysis like Alris provided. This will just be my quick thoughts on the episode. The detailed analysis I leave to you.

So what did I think of 4.09 - "Kill Shot"? Click the link to find out!

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Frosted Tips

Chuck vs. the Frosted Tips
Season 5, Episode 03, Original Air-date November 11, 2011

Chuck has some fears about Morgan having the intersect and it going to his head. Elsewhere Sarah helps Casey navigate his relationship with Gertrude Verbanski. And in the meantime Devon is spending his paternity leave with baby Clara at home but quickly finds it unexciting and that leads him to the Buy More where he makes a startling revelation about Jeff and Lester.

So far, Max and I have managed to stay chipper in the face of a show that constantly puts our least favorite character, a character that has inspired Castle Inanity's very first safe-word, in the spotlight. We've enjoyed two episodes in a row where it seemed like Chuck has found his spine (it wasn't in Sarah's purse) and Sarah has been pretty cool (on top of the fact that she's Sarah Frakking Walker) and even Casey has been hilarious (your CASEY unit now has a mate: Gertrude!).

But when the episode turns Morgan into such a douchebag that he even frosts his tips, can Max and I keep our streak up, or is this going to be a special pessimist vs. pessimist edition of mxpw vs. Frea?

Check the break to find out.

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Bearded Bandit

Chuck vs. the Bearded Bandit
Season 5, Episode 2, Original Air-Date: November 4, 2011

The team takes on a missing persons case and have to establish themselves as Carmichael Industries in the face of a rival security firm led by Gertrude Verbanski. Meanwhile Morgan adjusts to being the intersect and Chuck being his handler.Also the Buy More finds a new and unlikely spokesperson who helps to drum up business.

Okay, so it's less than an hour to midnight in Central Time, but I want it noted that for me, it's still Monday! I didn't miss this deadline. *gasp, pant, whoosh* Click the break, where you'll join an mxpw vs. Frea already in progress!

mxpw vs. Frea - The Preseason Games

Frea: So, fans, friends, foes, and everything in between, it's a sad day for me. That's right. (No, the Dr. Pepper supply has not been tampered with, no worries) The great and mighty Maximus has convinced me that the world cannot live without mxpw vs. Frea.

Frea: Naturally, I am hesitant about this. After all, the show and I did not end Season Four on amicable terms.

mxpw: Understandable. I remember it was sleeping on the couch a lot by the end.

Frea: Only because it sneaked in through the window after I changed the locks, that bastard.

mxpw: Well, it probably learned its lock picking skills from Sarah.

mxpw: She's pretty good at it. Casey even said so.

Frea: And he couldn't lie! He was on Super Convenient Truth Juice at the time!

Frea: But anyway, another reason I'm so hesitant is because...well, it's been awhile and things get rusty. I mean, we tried to keep up the mxpw vs. Frea love over the summer with Fringe, but we got our start on Chuck and we need to come back to Chuck. So think of this like a practice mxpw vs. Frea, if you will.

(more after the break)