Hanging from a Cliff

 Man, I hate cliffhangers.

Like, I loathe them with a passion.  They make me throw up my hands and groan, and frankly, want to smash my fist into something.  How DARE they?  How dare that writer deprive me of that moment of release, of knowing what happens to my favorite character at his or her greatest moment of peril?

Aren't I just the biggest hypocrite?  I know.  It's fun.

That being said, I LOVE cliffhangers.  They make me giggle like a maniacal schoolgirl.  Perhaps it's because my formative education in dialogue and plot was "Choose Your Own Adventure" books (which I always cheated on) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Perhaps I'm just a sadist.  But either way, a well-done cliffhanger just makes me stop, groan, and start laughing hysterically, while usually applauding the author on his or her work.

At any rate, a long time ago, I had a reader call my cliffhanger on chapter 34 "petty," which made me feel a little disgruntled for about a minute before something shiny popped up in the corner of my vision and I wandered off to explore.  A few hours later (hey, I had a new dog, and she requires a lot of attention), I returned to the subject and thought, "Hm, WAS that a petty cliffhanger?"

Eventually I came to conclusions about why people think cliffhangers are petty and why I think some aren't, and some are, and I'll explain here.

So...what makes a cliffhanger petty?

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the First Fight

Chuck vs. the First Fight

Season 4, Episode 7, air-date November 01, 2010

Summary: In order to avoid Sarah after their first real fight Chuck heads out on a rogue mission. Meanwhile Ellie digs into the Bartowski family history.

So after last week, in which we were exactly seven days late in getting mxpw vs. Frea to your computer screen, mx and I sat down and actually came up with an appointed time during which to write our review. Which means we're on time. For once.

Just to warn you, there IS sarcasm ahead. But is it about the episode, or are we mocking something else? You'll just have to read and find out!

Frea

Instant Reaction: Chuck vs the First Fight

Tweet 1: Fun fact: every Monday when I live-tweet #Chuck I lose five followers and gain five others. Time for that roller coaster again! #Chuck407

Addendum: This is actually true. All of my music critic buddies are all like "Quit spamming me with network TV live-tweets" and I'm all like "n00b" and then do it anyway. Actually it isn't quite so badass as that, but let me have my moment.


Tweet 2: Fun fact #2: I dressed up as #Chuck for Halloween this year. #Chuck407


Addendum: This is also true. Although I look like a chipmunk storing acorns fort the winter because my cheeks are so chubby, I did don my Nerd Herd attire and go as Chuck Bartowski for Halloween this year. It was a good Halloween.


Hit the break for more witty irreverence!

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror

Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror

Season 4, Episode 05, air-date October 25, 2010

Summary:  Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Morgan are sent on a mission to stop Dr. Stanley Wheelwright from releasing a toxin that causes nightmares. The mission makes Team Bartowski suspicious of where Chuck's Mom's allegiances lie. Jeff and Lester make Halloween plans for the Buy More while Ellie and Awesome get a visit from Awesome's mom.

So...there's a new Chuck on very soon, and mxpw and Frea are only getting around to posting last week's review?  What gives?  Wellllll...there are lots of things going on.  Frea is fighting a cold and the cold medicine is doing strange things to her, November has started, and Frea spent most of last week in a car driving across states like Wyoming and Nebraska.  And Sarah Walker in glasses quite frankly broke mxpw's brain.  We actually got half of the review done and then Frea literally had to go lie down before her head exploded, but we want you to know, you ARE getting the review before Chuck Vs. the First Fight...maybe.  If you click the link before then.  :) 

Enjoy!  

- Frea and mxpw

The Castle Inanity Hallowhedon Pledge

So right before October began, I extended a challenge to all of the CIA to write Hallowhedon stories.  There were no specifics given except that it had to be a crossover with Chuck and a Whedonverse of the authors' choice.  Tomorrow, there will be four new stories in the fandom crossing over vampires and reavers and zombies (oh my) with our gallant crew of nerds and spies.

Now mxpw and I are upping the challenge.  First, though, a video:

And, in a limited time offer, for ANY review on ANY of the four Hallowhedon stories submitted tomorrow, mxpw and I will each go and vote for Chuck in the TV Guide cover contest.  Even if the review is an absolutely hateful bucket of libel, Chuck gets at least two votes from it.  So, in addition to going and voting a crazy amount, you can literally just type "Awesome story, Wep/Chris/Max/Frea!" in the review box (though I hope you have a little more to say than that!), and that's like submitting an extra vote!  Neat, right?

Until we get those stories posted (mine may go up at midnight tonight central time), you can always go here and vote!

- Frea and the Castle Inanity Crew

Hallowhedon Excerpt

So my original Hallowhedon story was going to be this long and thoughtful look at Ellie after she had spent time in the Dollhouse and had undergone a composite event.  It was going to be philosophical, with plenty of action, and Sarah and Ellie kicking butt side by side as our motley crew makes their way through post-apocalyptic L.A. in search of a safe haven.  I had planned to bring Ivy from Dollhouse in and make Ellie constantly have to deal with Jeffster and it was going to be romantic with Ellie and Awesome.

Turns out I'm not so good at the philosophical.  Or maybe it's the stream of conscience that was tripping me up here, but I never sat down to work on this story and now Halloween is two days away.

Time for a new idea, right?  Here's an excerpt.  I'll see if anybody can pick up on what I did:

Hallowhedon Story

So Frea has been getting on me lately to contribute more to the blog. Craziness, I know. So here I am, contributing. I thought I might post a little bit of the rough draft (remember, a rough draft is always subject to change) of my first chapter of my Hallowhedon story. Plus, y'all get to see how different a rough draft is from the finished copy, as I don't really consider this to be very polished. What do you think?

This story is more or less a sequel to my oddly popular one-shot Chuck vs. the Zombie Apocalypse. Some readers asked me to write a follow up to the story, but I never really thought much of the idea until this Hallowhedon challenge came to be. Basically, this story that has yet to receive a title (if anybody has any idea, feel free to share!) and takes place after the zombie apocalypse. Essentially. Exciting, right?

It was originally just going to be a long one-shot written in Chuck's POV, much like the first story was. But I realized as I was writing that that just wasn't working for me, so I changed the idea. It's now a multi-chapter story, with each chapter probably coming from a different POV. Why should Chuck get to have all the fun? Plus, this means I can write a chapter about Jeff saving the day. Oh, is that spoiling? Whoops.

Instant Reaction: Chuck vs the Aisle of Terror

Tweet 1: #SarahConnorBitches #Chuck406

Addendum: With Linda Hamilton being all up ins the Chuck universe now, I will probably be starting quite a few episodes from hear on out with this hashtag. I got two RTs of it this week. Let's see if we can get it to five next week. We're building a Chuck meme, people! Get on board!


Tweet 2: Freddie Krueger is Scarecrow? #Chuck406

Addendum: Now I can't get the idea of Cillian Murphy as the new Freddy Krueger out of my head. He would be decidedly less gross looking but infinitely more terrifying because of it. Seriously the doctor character was basically not-good-looking Batman Begins Scarecrow. They even did similar special effects.


Reply Tweet 1, from ladycat713: and still pretty freaking scary.

Addendum: They failed at giving him a creepy mask though. Missed opportunities.


Tweet 3: @ladycat713 Batman Begins/Freddy Krueger/Chuck crossover now plz.

Addendum: Seriously I spit out great fic ideas every week and nobody steps up to the plate. THIS STUFF IS GOLD> Where are my authors at?

Authors, please get back to me after the break.

Who is YOUR Sarah?

Well, while Frea is away, I guess I'll effort to do something to, well, draw attention to myself. Heh.

So I was bored and tooling around the interwebs (read: femslash communities) when I came upon something I thought could definitely serve to help the fanfic writers that frequent the blog. Specifically those that like to write Sarah-centric stories.

It kind of goes back to Frea's post about "The Vulnerable Female that Can Still Break You In Half," but there was this neat little flowchart I found that can kind of guide you in making sure your Sarah (or any female character, for that matter) doesn't fall into a classic stereotype. So, yeah, enjoy!

Flowchart: Know Your Female Character Stereotype

Monday Updates...Mondates, If You Will

Okay, this is going to sound strange.  I figure, it's me, so chances of what I'm about to say sounding normal are pretty much nil to start off, but either way, here goes:

In about four hours, I'm flying across the country to pick up a chainsaw.

mxpw's Scribe Theater Three Thousand

So Frea asked me to do a column on writing. I think it was partly inspired by a comment I had made in this thread: Back into the Fold. I answered a question by one of our readers about what methods they could explore to better improve their writing. In the comment, I said that one of the best ways to learn how to write is actually by reading. This is very true. It’s pretty much how I learned to write, and I think Frea would say that it has helped her greatly as well.

To that end, Frea suggested what I do for this column is to take writing done by our fellow fanfiction writers, and try to analyze and break down the strengths of their writing styles. It seemed natural to choose our Most Benevolent Overlord Frea to be my first guinea pig.

Frea has many strengths when it comes to writing (and yes, she does have weaknesses as well, all writers do). While discussing them all would take more time than I can afford to spend, I have decided to select two of those strengths for discussion. For the purpose of this particular post, I am going to look at Frea’s ability to develop her characters and effectively showcase that characterization in her writing.

Icons: Chuck vs. the Couch Lock

Chuck vs. the Cubic Z icons still to come (hopefully today, but I'm going on a very strange trip on Monday and working this weekend, so I really can make no promises at all!  Sorry!).

But here are a few from Chuck vs. the Couch Lock.  With...wait for it, waaaaait for it, Jeffster!  I KNOW!  I'm shocked, too!  They're after the break, and if you want one, you know the deal (save it and let me know).

Happy Friday!

Frea

Update!

Yet another lightning quick note to let everybody know that Part IV of Fates on the eBooks page up there at the top of the blog now includes up to chapter 41, and the guide has been updated as well!  The Complete Reference Guide to What Fates Impose on ff.net is on indefinite hiatus.

- Frea

Sneak Preview: Fates 42

Since I don't really have any huge surprises coming in the next chapter like I have for the past three, I'm going to post a couple of spoilers for 42 as I write it.  Exciting, right?  Here's the first one, just a little taste for all of you.  As you can see in the picture, there's a friendly face returning to Fates.  Time to face relationship fire, though...

What the Frak is Wep Reading? Week (I'm not even sure)

Just when I thought I was out, blah, blah, blah. So you asked for it (at least Frea did), and when you ask for it (well, when Frea asks for it), be careful what you wish for, I guess. So at long last, the column that recommends fics that you may, or may not have read returns in full force. It's time for What the Frak is Wep Reading?

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Couch Lock

Chuck vs. the Couch Lock

Season 4, Episode 5, Air-Date 10.18.10

When Casey's former team returns looking for him, Chuck must decide what he's willing to sacrifice in order to find his mom. Elsewhere, Morgan works up the nerve to reveal a potentially dangerous secret to Casey.

After Frea was lazy the critics mutually agreeing that a week off was best, our favorite critical and snarky duo has returned with their thoughts on season four's fifth episode, Chuck vs. the Bride Couch Lock.  One of them has declared it a favorite.  The other probably would have agreed, except it needs more SWP.  Which is which?  If you don't know already, you probably don't read the blog much... but you can continue reading after the break.

CHUCKtoberfest Video

Everybody, if you could spread this video around, let's really get the ball rolling and help out our pals at Chuck This, yeah?

As the promos say, "Spread the Nerd!"*

- Frea

* Fates Sarah: I'd like to spread the nerd...

Instant Reaction: Chuck vs the Couch Lock

Tweet 1: Doors in the desert are not suspicious at all. #Chuck405

Addendum: The only people who would use doors in the desert are terrorists or sand people. Never mind that most Tusken Raiders ARE terrorists. The only difference between a terrorist and a sand person is species and is that really something they couldn't overcome? Basically what I'm saying is that we need to get Mark Hamil into Afghanistan.


Tweet 2: Casey was part of the B-Team? #Chuck405

Addendum: I was going to say the A-Team, but come on. If you don't have Mr. T calling people sucka fools then you can't really be the A-Team, can you?

As always, more after the break.

CHUCKDAY!

Is everybody excited?  After the hiatus from mxpw vs. Frea, we'll have a new one of those for you hopefully tomorrow -- the lack of a review last week is my fault as I, a) did not really have anything good to say about the episode, and b) was involved in a lot of projects that unfortunately ate up a lot of time -- and there will of course be Chris's Live Tweets tonight (seriously, go to his Twitter, you DO NOT want to miss that) and he'll post them up on the blog later with addendums that always slay me.  And I will do my best to have icons from both tonight's episode and last week's up.

But in the meantime, the people over at Chuck This are pretty awesome, and they like What Fates Impose and the Adorable Psycho and Double Agent a whole bunch, so I think we're naturally predisposed to like them.  Even if we didn't, they're doing a really neat promotional campaign right now called CHUCKtoberfest and everybody should go over, check it out, see what they can do to help.   From the rumors floating around Twitter, it looks like a back nine order is in the works, but this is our show, we've fought to keep it on the air since the dawn of time, let's continue to give our support and gratitude since it's the thing that brings all of us crazy personalities together.

Back Into the Fold

So I apologize for putting on the mod hat yesterday and kind of quelling the conversation that was going on in Wep's rant thread.  I feel there is a very important distinction to be made, and we were veering very close to a line I don't want to cross at Castle Inanity.  Is that censorship?  Oh yeah.  Do I care?  Yeah, I took about ten thousand media classes in college as a Mass Comm major and if I never get into a debate about censorship again, it will be TOO SOON, so any comments left about that will probably be ignored by me.  The argumentative guy that sat behind me and just liked to cause trouble for the sole purpose that he was a chaos vampire and kind of a d-bag besides has ruined it for all of you, I think, so my apologies on that.

But anyway, the rant on CI a couple of days ago led to an interesting conversation I found on Twitter (and it wasn't even Darth Razor--okay, no, I'm not calling him that, I refuse to besmirch the honor of the Sunnydale mascot...insert your own hyena joke here), so now I'm going to do a pro and con post.

My topic: is fanfiction insulting?