Fringe Benefits Incorporated - 4.01 - Neither Here Nor There

So every week during the Fringe season, I make it a point to arrive late so that I can hear Old Darth's teeth click together right before we launch our epic podcast for the night. We had some technical difficulties, a sugar-high Frea, a new term coined, and a blast this week.  If you liked the people, check out Jan and Old Darth (or mxpw and me) on Twitter!
What'd you think of the podcast and/or the episode?  I'll have a post ready to go next Friday when the show airs on East Coast time so that people can chime in.  Why?  
Because Fringe is AWESOME!!!
- Frea

Inane Chatter — Castle 4.02 - Heroes and Villains

Yeah, the title says that. I realized the other day that we have a lot of Castle fans in our midst (and a lot more now that I've pointed people toward Of Finding Innocence, which is good escapist fun). So why not set up a "Let's talk about the episode!" thread for Chuck fans?

And hell, our blog title is Castle Inanity.  It seems fitting we should talk about Castle at least once.

Spoilers after the break.

The Art of Summary

So it’s Saturday morning, and I don’t want to write Fates or rewatch Fringe until I’m done fully digesting all of the AWESOME that happened the night before, which means...either I’m going to read a book or I’m going to read a fanfic. So, yay, a plan. I hop on over to fanfiction.net and the decisions begin: what should I read? Is it time for an epic reread of Double Agent? Do I want to reread Fortune Favors Fools because Sarah’s voice is going to be harder to nail than usual in Fates 52*?

No, I want something new today, but I’ve read all recommendations from Wepdiggy. Time to search for something new...time to check out the summaries.

And here’s where the crapshoot begins.

Happy Birthday, Chuck!

Yes, yes, I know Chuck's birthday is actually the same as my nephew's. NOT IN FATES, though. Speaking of Fates...

Here's quite a substantial chunk of the fiftieth chapter of What Fates Impose. I do ask that you limit yourself to commenting about it only this blog post and not give any spoilers away on Twitter or other places. Some people may want to wait to read the chapter in total. But I won't keep you any longer! ENJOY! And Happy Birthday, Fates Chuck!!!

Lazy Summer Serial: Curtain Call #11

Maximus here. So it's not exactly two-a-week, but here's an update to everyone's favorite story about a computer nerd pretending to be a bodyguard with a crush on a Hollywood actress that might possibly be masquerading as an international superspy (or is it the other way around?). Because, you know, there's so many of those around.

- mxpw (and Frea)

Anticipation...Building...

It's almost here! It's almost here! It's almost here!!!

September 23rd is a HUGE day! Ginormous. Monstrous. Mondonormous, which I think is a word I once used to describe the wonderful mxpw. It also describes September 23rd just as well!

Things happening on September 23rd:

1) I may or may not become an honorary aunt (I'm most excited about that one, despite the exclamation points you are about to see)
2) The Killer Elite!!!!!
3) FRINGE!!!!!!!!

In honor of the show coming back, mxpw and I joined up with Old Darth of ODonTV and Jan from ChuckTV.net for our usual Fringe Benefits Incorporate podcast.

Annnnnd you can listen after the break! We talk about Jan's experience at Comic Con, our thoughts on S3, our expectations for S4. There's spoilers up to Season Three for those newbies among us, but I promise, we're pretty entertaining.

Lazy Summer Serial: Curtain Call #10

Here at Castle Inanity, we like to do things in a big way.  If we go away, the blog goes silent in a big way.  And when we come back, we like to flood the blog.  Which is why we're back to our two-in-a-week rotation of Curtain Call.

I've started putting the chapters on ff.net, but obviously the blog gets the first entry.  Property claims and all, you know.

I don't think we've been saying thank you very much with this story, so I'll talk that opportunity here, just to thank each and every one of you for your tweets and feedback and comments.  And to those people that even wandered over to ff.net and left reviews.  To those of you that found the blog through Curtain Call, consider this an official welcome.  I promise we'll try and be a little more active in the future; I've got a post on perspective coming, I think, and Curtain Call and Romeo and Juliet have some exciting things coming up.

But I know you're here for one thing: Ellie!  So I'll let you get on with that!

— Frea (and mpxw)

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

Hot Off the Presses!

Hello, all!  If you haven't been following me on Twitter, you probably missed out on the rather fun mashup I just created of "People Magazine," Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, and Curtain Call, but hey, you can view it here.

Orrrrrrrrr.... you could download the Curtain Call ebook.  That's right, get it right here!

And that's not all we have for you today.  I've gone and created an ebook of quistie64's Chuck vs The Ninja Librarian and I also decided to share my working copy of Romeo and Juliet with the world. Yes, I keep ebook versions of all of my works in progress, why do you ask?

Chuck vs. The Ninja Librarian


Romeo and Juliet But Without Teenagers or Death...Well, Okay, Some Death


Hope you're having an awesome Tuesday, wherever you are!  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for our Fringe Rewatch.  Season One is almost over, the show's gained its focus, and we'll be having a chat at the regular time on the blog!

— Frea

Lazy Summer Serial: Curtain Call #9

So that was a great couple weeks of vacation, for both of us, but now we‘re back! Yes, that’s right, a new Curtain Call right after the break.

I wish I had something witty to say here like I usually do, but I’m afraid we’re going a little overbudget on that with this project.  We already had to cut a car chase scene and a cameo by superstar David Hasselhoff.

:)

Frea

R&J — Passion In Providence, Part III

So here it is, the final installment of this chapter of Romeo and Juliet But Without Teenagers Or Death...well, okay, some death. The greatest turning point of them all.

Thanks to my writing sprint buddies today that helped me get this finished!

— 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!

R&J — Passion in Providence, Part II

Wait a second, I thought Frea gave this story up.

Guess she didn't.

Or maybe she just needed to write something.

Either way, this picks up after Passion in Providence, Part I.  Literally, it doesn't even have a scene break in the document on Frea's computer (which is named Romeo — Not a Date.doc) and sits on her desktop and taunts her daily.

But you know, Frea hopes you enjoy it.

— Frea's Subconscious

The Roundup Episode 06: Random!

So I read a lot on the web every week.  A woman actually called me a sponge during an interview and asked me if I would ever not be taking classes, if there wasn't something I wasn't completely fascinated by.  I honestly replied that I just didn't see that in the cards: I like learning,  and I like knowing.  And yes, I'm a bit ADD, so at any given point in time, I'll have ten different articles or tutorials open (right now, it's only two: a jQuery list and one of the links I plan to share today.  This may be a record).  So instead of making a themed Roundup this time, I think I'll just toss some random links your way.  Sound good?  If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably already stumbled across some of these thanks to my Twitter feed, so I apologize for any repeats.

Do I Really Need to Know That?

Recently, I’ve been fighting a case of writer’s block. Usually, I’ll say, “Oh, I’ve got writer’s block. Stupid Fates!” or “Stupid Greater!” But not this time: this time, it’s a general writer’s block, where I stare at a blank page, or a blank Twitter line, or a blank blog entry box for an hour. Then I think to myself, “Screw it,” and go watch a movie. I’ve no enthusiasm for anything lately. Even worse, I’ll force myself to write halfway through a scene, realize it’s a scene I don’t need, and scrap everything. I’ve done it four times on blog posts alone.

But today, I’m going to persevere. I’m just not sure what’s wrong with me lately. It’s probably not anything quantifiable; it’s only going to get worse, as I’m going to have splitting headaches for the next week on top of this general ennui.

Maybe it’s that it’s August. Yeah, that could be it.

Where the Frak is the CIA?

Subtitle: What's going on with the blog?  And, oh yeah, that one story?

One of the following is true:

A)  Frea was kidnapped by aliens, who forced her to watch Cowboys and Aliens and give them her honest opinion.  Unfortunately, it didn't end so well.  For the aliens, that is.

B) Frea and Maximus (and other assorted members of the CIA) got smacked in the face with real life.

Frea is in the process of launching her own business, taking classes, and working full time, on top of maintaining a strict gnome-grooming schedule and being at the mercy of the alien space overlords—oops, she means Boston Terriers.  She was found crushed under one last week; thankfully somebody commissioned a Freabot to try and finish Fates by Chuck's birthday, who has kindly been filling in for her.

Maximus just came off of a very difficult semester full of classes that he's mostly been using to taunt Frea, including naming half of the muscles in Sarah's back during random Fates betas (to be fair, that only happened once).  His final exam involved dead bodies.  And much to Frea's disappointment, not the scattered corpses of his enemies.

Chris, as far as we can tell, has joined the Navy SEALs and is on a personal vendetta against Conan O'Brien (we didn't ask) having to do with some band Frea has never heard of.

Crystal has been eaten by a gru.  In Hawaii.  She will be missed.

Wepdiggy has been eaten by a gru. In Chicago.  He will be mocked.

So that's what's up with the blog lately.  Scheduled entries into Curtain Call and What Fates Impose might be late for the foreseeable future.  We appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

Management

Curtain Call #8

So I think some apologies are in order. Neither Frea or myself intended to take this long to update, but life just gets in the way, you know? So, sorry for pushing the update back so many times, but here you go!

Curtain Call #7

*Insert witty and clever intro here*

Enjoy!

An mxpw Retrospective

Here is a brief rundown of my thoughts regarding the final season of Chuck. I plan on doing a much longer post when the show officially ends next year, but I wanted to jot some things down while yesterday's panel was still fresh in my mind. What follows are my personal opinions only.

You can see my thoughts after the jump.


P.S. New Curtain Call entry drops tomorrow AND the Fringe Rewatch is back, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel (chat starts at 7:30 CT).