Title: Chuck vs. The Choice

Author: Chuck_105

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: This is just a work of fanfiction. Chuck and its characters belong to NBC / WB.

Summary: Picking up very close to where Season 2 ended, Team Bartowski is on the run, unable to know who to trust. While they search for answers, they must also deal with the emotional fallout of the decisions made in the Season 2 finale, as well as the choice Chuck made to re-intersect himself.

Note: This prologue is meant solely as a means to set-up the basic premise for the rest of the story, and is written in a very brief and to-the-point style that mainly serves to re-introduce the two main characters (Chuck and Sarah), put them into some kind of pressure situation, and ultimately send them on their journey.  More detail, character development, etc. will come starting in the first chapter, which I'm currently working on.

chuck-105.livejournal.com/384.html

HOWARD/RAJ. EVEN THEIR PARENTS THINK THEY'RE MARRIED. Oh, my ship. I love it. A lot. I wasn't really feeling this episode until the comic book store scene, which, naturally, whipped out the Howard/Raj and made the episode 10 times better. THEY ARE SO, SO LOVELY! And Sheldon reliving the arguments of his parents was so made of win. Oh man, that scene made me laugh like crazy. Also, I think this is the first episode where I was actually on board with Leonard/Penny? Which is weird since they were fighting through the entire thing, but uh... apparently arguing = love in my world? I just don't know. But yeah, this is the first episode where they've felt natural as a couple, and if they were like that all the time I would probably ship them like crazy. Also, Howard and his mother. It's the same joke EVERY TIME, and yet I never, ever get tired of it. I LOVE THE BIG BANG THEORY.

HIMYM, however, was... not so good. I am interested to see my f-list's reaction to this episode. I mean, it had funny parts, but ( spoilers )

In other news, my entire day was spent waiting for the gas guy to arrive, and he never did. ALL DAY I waited. I woke up early and everything! We made the appointment a week ago! *sigh* The only good that came out of this non-existent gas man is that I had an excuse to do nothing but read Buffy/Giles fanfiction all day. And I happened to have been reading my new favoritest B/G fic of ALL TIME:

The Great Moppet Caper 1, 2, 3 - by Blood Bytes

Oh man, this is one of those fics that fits so well into canon that I kind of want to use it as proof that Giles was madly in love with Buffy, but I can't, because it's fanfiction, but good god is it so in character in regards to Giles and Buffy. It is a post series fic where the void between Buffy and Giles just got bigger after they left Sunnydale, and it so expertly captures that inability to properly communicate that Giles and Buffy suffer from, and yet at the same time it still manages to capture the fact that Giles and Buffy connect on a level that they can't with anyone else, and this scares them, and they keep hurting each other by throwing up the emotional walls and misinterpreting everything even though somewhere in their mind they know exactly what the other one is saying/doing/feeling. In addition to getting the Buffy/Giles angst so utterly right, IT HAS A PLOT! AN ACTUAL, FULLY DEVELOPED PLOT! This is so rare that it must be celebrated. Also, the quality of the writing is excellent, the dialogue is pretty spot-on for all the characters, and so much of this fic had me cracking up like crazy (you know, the bits that didn't have my stomach flip flopping with all the glorious angst). Also, there is a strong focus on Dawn/Xander, which I sort of secretly shipped during season 7, and I really like what this fic did with them (though, I am not a fan of fics that dramatize Xander, but this one pulled it off pretty well, and a lot of the comedy comes from the contrast between Buffy/Giles and Xander/Dawn). There was also quite a bit of Giles/Ethan, and frankly Giles/Ethan is so overdone in Buffy/Giles fics that I am kind of sick of it, but once again, this fic pulls them off pretty well. I cannot praise this fic enough. There was dancing and awkwardness and ~meaningful looks~ and both Giles and Buffy flustering each other and nostalgia and hurt/comfort and hotness! Definitely worth a read.

Some excerpts! Because seriously, I really loved this fic:

“Giles, it’s not that I’m not happy to see you, because I am.” She paused, seeming about to say something more before she stopped. Her eyes searched his, her jaw set. “But it’s been over a year since Sunnydale. I get a random phone call from you when there’s a meeting in London. There’s the monthly update from Willow on Council biz…. I got a card from you for my birthday, and a fruit basket for Christmas.”

The way she said fruit basket suggested that she may have decided against the use of some rather creative modifiers. He agreed; that sodding fruit basket was the last thing he’d wanted to send. But everything else seemed either woefully inadequate or wholly inappropriate. So… Fruit basket.

Buffy took a deep breath, her expression hardening. “So, Giles, what’s up? Is Rome about to be sucked into hell, because if so, I’d like to get some stuff packed. The last time my hometown got Hoovered, I was kinda caught off guard.”

“I know you didn’t want to be my father, or even my Watcher in the end – ” She curled her knees into her chest, looking suddenly terribly, terribly small. “But would it have been so horrible if we were friends? I mean – God, you even pal around with Xander like you guys are old college roomies.”

She looked at him squarely, pulling herself together now that the worst was out. “What is it about me that makes you want to turn tail and leave the Western hemisphere the minute you get the chance?”

“Buffy, the men in your life – ”

She shook her head violently. “I’m not talking about the men in my life, Giles. I’m talking about *you*.”

The implications of her words registered for Buffy a moment after the words had slapped Giles in the face. He stiffened, looking away with a pained smile. “And there we have the problem, in the proverbial nutshell.”

Giles felt a strange mix of regret and anticipation; the time for reflection, after all, was done. He recognized that he was on the threshold of something life-changing, and he would never again be on the outside waiting for this moment to begin. It had begun.

Oh, Buffy/Giles. *dreamy sigh*

Reaction/Recap post for "Shadowboxing."

So what did you all think of tonight's episode? Reply with a link to reaction/discussion/recap posts at your LJ.

Please remember, this is only a link post. Leave all discussion to your own journals. Also, we ask that you please mention if there are any spoilers for unaired episodes in the linked posts.

Hope you enjoyed the show! Have a great night!

@ fly_by_day
GOES LIVE 11/9, 7:55PM EST

The stream was awesome last week. I hope I can watch him say; WWBD.

( Here... )

I hope you like them! Comments are love :)

Here's the Jack Coleman VH1 Free Radio Interview that caused my prior Youtube account got suspended:



Find more videos like this on BAM Vid Vault




Jack is very yummy, cute and funny! Guh. Did you notice the striped shirt? He used to wear it a lot. I was in love with that shirt. *sigh*

Hmmm...I think I'll love today's episode...I can feel it. The promo. I watched it like 20 53 times.


...So...I have a poll!


( WWBD )

I already wrote my post about November 9th as the jinxed date of German 20th century history - when both terrible and good things happened over the decades - last year, so this year, I'll limit myself to our 20th anniversary.

The first time I saw the Wall, I was 14 and it was on a trip with American exchange students. My hometown, Bamberg, isn't that far from the former border, and just about three hours from Berlin if you drive without traffic jams. When the Americans were here as part of a student exchange program, one of the things on the schedule was a trip to Berlin. So there were were, on a bus, German and American students, driving the transit road to Berlin. First passing the border to East Germany with its towers and zone which was referred to as "der Todesstreifen" - the death zone - because the guards had orders to shoot if someone tried to cross it without permission. I think both German and American students felt a bit like visiting a prison, with that kind of guilty awkwardness you sense if you're free and entering an area where no one else is; we were all silent while our pass ports were controlled. But the difference was that we Germans accepted it as normal. This was how things were. Germany was divided all through our lives; we took it for granted that it always would be, never mind the lip service our politicians paid on occasion. The GDR: source of bizarre alternate reality style news (seriously, those news programs were fantastically Orwellian to watch), great literature and the occasional moving "family makes it across the border" story. Also, tv wise, of all those great Czech fantasy series and fairy tale movies. As such a part of our every day lives and there to stay.

During that one week in Berlin, we went to East Berlin for a day, which you could, provided you were back within 24 hours, and that felt like time travel, because a few representative buildings aside, East Berlin looked like photos of West Germany looked - 50, 60 years ago. (Additional flinch of guilt: not only were the East Germans locked up, but they still seemed to bear the results of the war. They never had a Marshall Plan, after all, or a Wirtschaftswunder.) If one wanted to enter a book store, which I did, one had to queue in front, got a green plastic bag and waited, because only a limited number of customers was allowed inside. Our teachers had advised us not to get into discussions with the locals too much, because one could never be sure who was working for the Stasi, and we might end up getting them into trouble.

As I said, my hometown was not that far away. I remember thinking: if the occupation zones had been drawn a bit differently in 45, this could have been my life.

The Wall itself, painted on one side and grey on the other, seemed to sum it up, including the surreality of the entire situation, as it was just there, through the entire city. There were photos showing Berlin before the Wall, and I thought that I would never see it like that, because, well, it was there, and it would stay.

And then came perestroika, and in its wake, 1989, the run to Hungary, to Czecheslovakia, the overcrowed embassies, the demonstrations, and finally, that night.

Some particular highlights, with English subtitles:

The opening of the Wall at Berlin's Bornholmer Strasse, the first border to be crossed.



The opening of the Brandenburg Gate:



The newsreel of November 10th, summing up the night:



And finally, an excerpt from later that year, when Leonard Bernstein directed Beethoven's 9th in Berlin, honour of what happened. The Ode to Joy, except that the word "joy" - Freude - has been replaced with "freedom" - Freiheit. Which, as it happens, was Schiller's original wording, later changed as the French Revolution which inspired it took on some darker colours. The French Revolution, whose 200th anniversary also was in 1989. I always thought it fitting that the Ode to Joy became our European anthem.

So: The Ode to Freedom:

...which is that, so far, the default pairing for the fandom seems to be an Elizabeth/Peter/Neal threesome.

Excellent.

Do you know much I love that Elizabeth isn't being portrayed as an Ebil HOR?

To wit, here are a couple of really sweet fics I've stumbled upon:

Two Hundred and Eight Weeks, by Elandria Lore (link goes to Dreamwidth), rated R.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, by oh_mcgee, Rated R.

Curse you, Warren Ellis, for making me break my resolution of not reading your work until it's gathered in trade volumes because it's more enjoyable this way by catering to my fannish whims.

( My darling, I'm trying to reach the joystick - wait, that doesn't sound good, either )

Fanfic: het
Saving Her (8/?) by ewinfic (Sylar/Claire | NC-17)
A Far Distant Future (2/?) by vespaer (Sylar/Claire | R)

Fanfic: slash
Gabriel of Troy by mabetini (Sylar/Mohinder, Chandra | PG-13)

Fanfic: other
Primatech 815 (5/?) by starrdust411 (Heroes/Lost Crossover | R)
Flying Man (1/2) by amles80 (Heroes/X-Files Crossover | G)
Wonder Woman in my Living Room by rosie1234 (Heroes/The Big Bang Theory Crossover | PG-13)

Icons
35 Maya and Maya/Sylar Icons made by albion1919
50 Icons + 3 Petrelli family wallpapers made by mimesh
10 Zach Icons Made by captbrilliant

Multimedia
FanVid: The Pretender [Sylar, Elle, HRG] Made by di_elle
FanVid: Bad Reputation [Sylar] Made by connie_welsh


You can reach us in the comments or at ninth.wonders.editors@gmail.com

I suck at Top 5's but I wanna play with everybody else: Ask me my fannish [music, movie, television, books] Top Five. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! And I will answer them in a new post in the comments.

30 Rock - Audition Day icons



All @ my LJ char_cohen

Heya, this is my first post, I have been a lurker though. But I wanted to share this video I made. Comments = love.

News

New Monday promo: What would Bennet do? (Spoilers)
Interview with Deanne Brae

Challenges and Ficathons

Challenge 83 is open at paire_icontest
Icon of the Month voting is now open at paire_icontest
Challenge 82 voting is open at paire_icontest
Final reminder at prettylightsfic
Challenge 19 voting is now open at heroes_contest
Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies Art Challenge is now open at gqmf_heroes
Final reminder for Challenge #61 and Sylar Challenge #36 at zacharyq_stills

Fanfic: gen

Ripple by themaskedmckay (Sylar | G | ( Warnings )

Fanfic: het

Just Give Me Tonight by jetsabul (Peter/Claire, Emma, Nathan | PG-13 | ( Warnings )
what little girl doesn’t dearly love a wolf? by tigriswolf (Sylar/Claire | PG | ( Warnings )
Casualties of War by disalae (Elle/Adam, Elle/Sylar | R | ( Warnings )
We Will All Laugh at Gilded Butterflies (7/?) by hedge_labyrinth (Sylar/Claire | PG-13 | ( Warnings )
Some Enchanted Evening by fortunatetattoo (Sylar/Lydia | NC-17 | ( Warnings )

Fanfic: slash

Inevitable by lornrocks (Peter/Sylar | NC-17 | ( Warnings )
please just let me do whatever fits you by ever_obsessed (Claire/Elle | NC-17 | ( Warnings )
Anagnorisis (2/2) by gaiafaye (Sylar/Mohinder | PG-13 | ( Warnings )
Brother's Keeper (5/?) by henrika_amanda and pilar_sama (Nathan/Peter | NC-17 | ( Warnings )
All I Want for Christmas (1/?) by enchanted_woo (Nathan/Peter | NC-17 | ( Warnings )
The Talk You Don't Wanna Have With Supergirl by gixan (Claire/Gretchen | PG-13 | ( Warnings )

Fanfic: other

Wet Dreams by bombangbing (Noah/Tracy, past Noah/Sandra, Noah/water? | PG-13 | ( Warnings )

Rebel, Rebel by evidence_room (Peter/Nathan's friends | NC-17 | ( Warnings )

Recs

fersuregurl is looking for fic recs at noaire

Icons

15 Emma and Emma/Peter icons by zerectica
17 Heroes icons in a multifandom post by loveisafool

Fanart

Sylar doodle by hotarubi88

Pictures

9 Sendhil Ramamurthy pics, posted by spinawebofsound

Miscellaneous

pylaire is looking for affiliates.
heroes1000 is conducting a poll on fic-a-thon ideas.
okibeyemoun is looking for a beta.


You can reach us in the comments or at ninth.wonders.editors@gmail.com

We interrupt your program to tell you that
FUCK YEAH I JUST HIT 10,000 WORDS.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

Look, someone did a little vid for Glee's Puck and Rachel to Kai's "Alien" song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRgSHiA-XhE

AW! My fandoms, they collide!

Speaking of which, I come bearing a ficbit. Total speculation on my part, too, as we've had no indication that Kai remembers anything about "do-over day."

Title: "So Let the Stars Align" 1/1
Author: monimala
Fandom: Being Erica
Rating/Classification: PG-13, Kai POV, Kai/Erica, ficlet, angst
Disclaimer: Not my characters, don't own them, etc.
Summary: 400 words. Takes place after 207, "The Unkindest Cut."

( Read more... )

This is my favorite song at the moment. I have a tendency to scream sing it on my way home from a shift at Kohl's.

"Be Calm" - fun.

Oh be calm
Be calm
I know you feel like you are breaking down
I know that it gets so hard sometimes
Be calm
Take it from me
I’ve been there a thousand times
You hate your pulse because it thinks you’re still alive
And everything’s wrong
It just gets so hard sometimes
Be calm

I thought I'd best fangirled here because WHAT THE WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE PROMO FOR NEXT WEEK?!!



( squeeing behind the cut )

Oh, you guys, Merlin just broke my heart. I cried twice. I don't recall ever crying at Merlin before (well, besides the billowing capes scene, but that's only because I smile so hard that tears form in my eyes). OH MY GOD! Such a magnificent episode. Last week's was the epitome of comedy, and this one was drama all the way. Let me just say that the Merlin/Gaius scenes in this ep were beyond beautiful. The Merlin/Gwen team up was spectacular. Uther's turmoil was fantastic. My only complaint is that I wanted more from Morgana, especially since I was expecting this to be the episode where Uther starts to have his suspicions about her, but alas, she was kind of just an afterthought. *sigh* Anyway, Uther/Gaius. I must get this out of my system:

( GUH, MY HEART! )

Anyway, this ep was a hard one for Uther. He's so... ARGH! I know he is quite an idiot a lot of the time, but he's so, so broken and lost and vulnerable, and he just wants to love someone and be loved in return, but he's so afraid to trust people that he ends up pushing away every single person that matters to him, and despite all the stupid/crazy/violent things he does, I can't help but love him with my whole heart. *sigh*

Also, because it was the only bit of Uther/Morgana in the entire episode:

( You do value the life of your ward... )

You know, I was going to have coherent, intelligent meta thoughts about The Vampire Diaries and then transtempts pointed me towards this:

( Spoiler-y clip for next week is embedded behind the cut )

And now I'm all "OMG! :::FLAIL::::"

I love this show. Love it. I love that Elena takes no shit from anyone, that Bonnie is fabulous and powerful and beautiful, and while I still think Caroline is a waste of space (AND NOT MEREDITH, DAMMIT), this week's scenes with her and Matt broke my heart. (Where is the FIC, people?)