Trick or Treat

Doing this a little bit earlier this year...

In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, I’m inviting trick-or-treaters to my ‘door.’ Comment “trick-or-treat” to this post and…well, you know the drill. Treats can be anything that strikes my fancy (pics of fave actors or pairings, one sentence fics, graphics, a few words why I’m glad to have you on my flist, etc. etc.). The more “houses” to visit the more fun it’ll be, so go ahead, open your journal and help spread the fun!

I've enabled anonymous commenting. If you could let me know who you are, I can tailor your treat—or your trick!—just for you (aka sign your comments if you can! Or just tell me what you like if you don't feel comfortable leaving your name).

All the Mondays

Greetings, Amusing People!

Sorry it’s been radio silent on the blog. I had a really strange week last week where other things ate my life and I’m still trying to recover from everything.

Announcements:

Chapter Sixteen of My Girl Sarah has dropped. It’s named The Final Showdown and it’s the chapter where stuff blows up and things happen and there’s the noir-appropriate final showdown in an alley and Carina does my absolute favorite thing in the story. You can read that here.

I submitted a story to Avengersfest. I’ll link to that on November 17th, when the authors are revealed. I can’t say what it’s about yet.

Most importantly, the ebook for quistie64’s awesome (COMPLETE) Sound of Music II story has been put up online on her blog for you to download. I’ve added it to my archives, too, for completeness’s sake, but you should go over to her blog and tell her how awesome she is.

I have recently decided, given what’s been happening on Downton Abbey in this current season, that I want to cut all of my ties to that fandom. As such, I will be finishing Guide Us Home in three chapters and running far and fast away from that fandom because I don’t like Matthew Crawley anymore, and I hate Fellowes worse. I will be fair and considerate to all characters, but I will not devote hundreds of hours to a show I no longer like.

Might be something big going on this week, depending on how today goes. I’ll keep you in the loop, if I get a little less vague.

Anyway, 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: HELL YEAH moments

So this week Max and I have decided to celebrate the show not in the cynical fashion most would expect, but by revisiting some of the things that made us fall in love with Chuck in the first place. Sure, those things may not be present today, but it’s fun to walk down memory lane and look at the good times (and some of the bad times). I’m kicking off the week with my best 10 "HELL YEAH" moments. What does that mean? These were just my top times on the show where I sat up and went, "HELL YEAH!" And yes, there’s even a moment in here from Season Three for all of you people who think I (rightfully) like Season One and Two more.

So click the link to read more. And remember, these are my opinions and mine alone.  Well, okay, mxpw submitted a few of them.

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.

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 Business Trip

Chuck vs. the Business Trip
Season 5, Episode 04, Original air-date November 18, 2011

Chuck and Sarah must stop an assassin after the Intersect at a Buy More convention. Jeff shows a new side to himself.

Max here, posting the review this time, and you know what that means. That's right, drooling over Sarah in the Nerd Herd uniform. And there's no Frea to stop me. Mwuaha.

Sarah in the NH uniform, best thing ever or best thing of all time? Discuss.

Okay, to be serious for a second before we get back to the truly important things, this episode was written by Kristin Newman. Frea's crush on Newman is well known, but after Business Trip, is Frea still in love with the future Mrs. O'Scanlin? You'll have to read the review to find out.

More after the jump!

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 - Chuck vs. the Zoom

Chuck vs. the Zoom
Season 5, Episode 01, Air-date: October 21 October 28, 2011



Chuck must adjust to his new life as a business owner and being a spy without the Intersect in his head or the support of the CIA. Carmichael Industries' first mission is a rich thief Jean Claude and a conning investor, Roger Bale, who has stolen money from some of the world's most dangerous people. In the mean time Morgan helps Chuck with a special surprise for Sarah. Back in the Buy More, Jeff and Lester have taken things to another level with their latest scheme.

Both mxpw and Frea had expectations lower than a teen starlet's self-esteem going into this episode. Did the show meet those expectations or did it laugh in Max and Frea's faces? Click the break to find out.

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)

Fringe Rewatch #1.16 — Unleashed

Just to let you know, there won't be an mxpw vs. Frea style review of Unleashed, which we'll be watching tonight on the blog at 7:30 pm CST.  The reason?  Frea was too busy writing Fates.  We didn't think you'd mind.

See you tonight on the blog to watch the sixteenth episode of the first season!  If you need ANY incentive to come watch with us: Shirtless Charlie Francis.  See you then!

— Frea

Fringe Rewatch #1.14 - Ability

Tonight on the blog, we’ll be rewatching Ability, the fourteenth episode of the first season of Fringe. As we’ll note later in our review, this is a monumental episode for many reasons, apart from the very important one we mention over and over (and over again).

Just a brief rundown for those of you that may not watch Fringe as obsessively as yours truly:

Spoilers ahead!

Fringe Rewatch #1.12 - The No Brainer (mxpw vs. Frea)

The No-Brainer took place in the middle of Fringe's first season (back when the show was part of FOX's No Remote campaign, which meant that episodes were 50 minutes long rather than 42 or 43 minutes like they normally are).  In this episode Olivia Dunham and the rest of the Fringe division get a new and fun bizarre case: brains are melting.  And not just because Sarah Walker's coming out of a swimming pool. Brains are literally melting into goo.

Spoilers ahead!

Help a Guy Out!

So Frea asked me to do a blog post today and I have to admit, it was a struggle. After an exhausting day, my brain was fried. But thanks to an e-mail by the smart and awesome zappeej, as well as my own curiosity, I started thinking about how to write a good female character. I mean, most of us here love Sarah Walker (at least the sane among us). We love her on the show and we love her in fic. But she can sometimes be a struggle to write "right." I know I struggle with her in my own fic. How exactly does one write a strong female character? Well, fortunately, Frea, being the most benevolent overlord that she is, was more than willing to help me figure out this question.

Borrowing the mxpw vs. Frea format for this post, what follows after the link is our conversation. Here, Frea gives some great tips on how to write a female character, as well as gives some examples of strong female characters for those of us who want to learn more about this important writing topic.