"Geek Out! Upside Down" — Unofficial Challenge

Last Update: Submissions are now closed. Thank you, everyone, so much for playing! I foresee that it will take about two weeks to go through all the entries and figure out the winners (my partner just started a new job and has less free time).

While you wait for the results, please read the other submissions; there is some genius in there!

...and a new challenge is coming soon 😉

July 28, UPDATE (I resisted the temptation to call it "Newest Update"; you're all welcome):

Two new stories were added to the list: check them out!

There is less than a week left to join the awesome 10 entries (that's 20 stories!) we've had so far!

Are you up for the challenge?

Geek out on your most and least favorite Movies/TV-Shows/Books/Songs/Albums and video games! Which — my bad — was not a clearly defined category before, and we have had no submissions in it...

Will you be the first one to write one?

Submissions are open until the 1st of August at 23.59 Amsterdam time... but I am in bed at that time and won't even notice if you post it the day after, say, before 12 wink wink.

NEWER UPDATE: More submissions have been added to the list; check them out!! My apologies for taking so long to update the post; with the wedding of my sister-in-law, I haven't had enough time in front of the laptop recently, and I can't make the editor do what I want on the phone.

A couple of fixes. I realized that despite allowing video games as a topic, I did not include the community Gamers in the allowed communities. For anyone who wanted to write about video games: Sorry! I fixed it now. It is now possible to submit up to 4 pairs per writer.

It seems that it was not obvious that the pairs have to be within the same community. I'm sorry for the confusion. I modified the text a little bit, and I hope that it is clear enough now! The pairs are meant to be about the same type of media, and therefore submitted to the same community.

UPDATE: I am so impressed by the positive reception to this challenge and the fact that we already have 3 and a half submissions!! You guys rock!! I'll add the entries at the end of the page, so you can all have fun reading each other's work.

For those who don't know me, I'm a big fan of challenges, official and unofficial alike. They offer inspiration, a chance to showcase our work, and often a little extra money... all great things!

And now that free users can no longer earn money through reads, I'd like to try to give back to this amazing community by regularly hosting unofficial challenges.

I'm currently still working through reading and evaluating all the submissions to my previous challenge, and I should be done within the next one or two days:

Stay tuned!

But while we wait for the results... why not start the next one?

RULES:

• What to write: For this challenge, I invite you to write 2 pieces reviewing a TV series, movie, book, videogame, song, or album and submit them either to the Geeks, BookClub, Gamers, or Beat community.

But here's the twist — because there has to be a twist! — You have to write a positive review of something you strongly dislike (even better if you hate it) and a negative one of something that you like a lot (even better if you love it). And it has to be sincere. No generic "the public loved it" or "it sold a lot": your feelings have to be obvious.

This challenge is all about finding different ways to look at familiar things.

• How long: The minimum length is the one allowed by the community (and tag) you choose, and the maximum length is whatever Vocal will let you.

• How many submissions: No more than one pair per community. So, effectively, up to 4 pairs per person.

• Prizes: To be announced depending on participation.

• Technicalities:

1. I'd like you to write something new and not previously published.

2. All entries have to come in pairs. The pairs must be within the same community.

3. Please make sure your subtitle says "For Sasha Desideri's "Geek Out! Upside Down" — Unofficial Challenge", or a variation of it: I'd like you to spread the word as much as possible so more people can join in!

4. Please have a link to this article posted at some point in your story: same reason as above.

5. Both posts must be linked (or at least their full name written) in a single comment to this post, so I can retrieve them easily.

6. Please drop your comment here before the 1st of August 2026 at 23:59 UTC.

7. How are winners decided? The idea for this challenge came out during a walk with my gorgeous partner who is way geekier than me, so we'll decide the winners together, but he'll have the final word.

8. When will winners be announced? I have no clue! Depending on participation, it might take me as little as a day or as much as several weeks to read through all the stories and decide. Winners will be announced in a separate post, and tips will be distributed as soon as the winners are announced (maybe even slightly before).

Now that all that needed to be said has been said: good luck!

I hope to have a lot of your amazing reviews to read and ideas for new content to watch/read/listen to!

This is a two-in-one submission, rebelling against the 2 submissions rule... and we like ourselves a little rebellion 😉

Some things are just too much to fall neatly into the "like" or "dislike" boxes. Sometimes they win a spot in our hearts, wrapped in both love and hate.