Showing posts with label adopt a webpage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adopt a webpage. Show all posts

Friday, January 23, 2009

Something More to Celebrate

Let me do the math... um, okay, it was 177 years ago today that a certain fanfiction character, an original one in Daria-dom, was born. You are free to guess who it was before you click here for the answer. Good luck. If you get it right, you are either the author or a very loyal fanfiction reader!

So long as I have the bully pulpit, here are a few thoughts to spread around like manure, and like manure will either cause things to grow or else will stink, or both.

I would like to strongly encourage a certain activism among the fandom here to add your own stamp to the resources everyone draws upon. If you like using DariaWiki, by all means, find some pages that need work and go for it. A lot of the same names keep popping up as wiki editors and writers, but that well of writers is a very small one. If you have the itch to write and you love Daria, please add to the labor of love that DariaWiki is.

If you write fanfiction, send your works out to as many websites as possible. A goodly number were listed in previous posts, particularly here and here, so find some time to make your work famous the world over. A fandom exists only with the help of its fans, and until MTV pops some Daria on DVD out of the oven, we keep the flame alive, or something like that. You know what I mean. Brother Grimace certainly knows, as he has just posted 7,352,892 stories new and old to Fanfiction.net, just loads of stuff. You'll be reading until Kevin Thompson graduates high school, which will be a very long time indeed.

A long while ago I wrote about an "adopt a webpage" project, in which interested fans go web-surfing, find places that allow you to add content on Daria, and add that content. If you click on the phrase "adopt a webpage" under Labels, you will get the list of websites that (so far as can be told) allow for fan additions. Adopt a website or webpage of your own and make it something special. We can never have enough Daria websites. We have had too little, but never enough.

If you have some ideas for [winces as he says it] growing the fandom.... man, what an awful phrase. Sorry. Let's try that again.

We need ideas to help the fandom grow, in numbers as well as in personal enjoyment. If you have ideas for ways to make the fandom more fun, post them here or put them into action. Fun is the only reason we're here. Well, fun and obsession, those are the only two.... um, fun, obsession, and a need to communicate with other nutbars, that's three, wait.... forget it. You know what to do. Let's do it. Party on most righteously.

P.S. Now 1,119 fans at the Daria Fan Club. Jeez, that place grew fast.

P.P.S. Who was Daria's best writer? Take the poll by Byron Lomax and find out.


FF.net
  • 3D Chess, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Could the problems with everyone in Lawndale be caused by the gods? A fic tinged with a bit of mythology and chock-full of the disdainful glare Daria fans know and love.
  • Daria Hunter, by bhut (COMPLETE!): Ms. Li’s newest pet project, Lawndale High’s Filmmaking Club, is shooting "Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course." Read it at your own peril.
  • DAYLIGHT: Baked Alaska, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Legionnaire Julia Carlyle takes a trip up to the Last Frontier to find old friends and enemies, and an unimaginable disaster.
  • DAYLIGHT: The Essentials of Everyday Living, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The members of The Alliance meet new friends and a possible enemy in the ruins of Fostoria, Ohio.
  • DAYLIGHT: Kitchen Duty, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Daria and Sandi are stuck in the kitchen, together. Cynicism and sadness rise like bread dough.
  • Getting On With Living, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Jane has to verbally dress down a girl who's a bit too much into her past relationship with Tom Sloane. Based on an Iron Chef challenge.
  • Good Deed For The Day, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Daria does a good deed. No horrid consequences ensue.
  • Helen, The Depths of Her Own Mind, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The fourth entry in the Visitations entry finds Helen Morgendorffer looking down the paths not taken and wondering if the choices she's made were the right ones.
  • Helping Hand, by Ivgie Sole (Parts 1 and 2): Having already suffered a great loss, Daria is about to lose her love, sanity, and perhaps her very life. That is, until an old friend comes to her rescue.
  • He's the QB, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The fifth Visitations story, this one focuses on Kevin Thompson, the war in Iraq, and two very familiar characters arguing over the QB.
  • Jane Lane: Ace Attorney, by BatLurker (COMPLETE!): In this parody/fusion with the Ace Attorney games, Jane Lane abandons her art studies in favor of the law in order to face an old friend. Now she has to face said friend in savage courtroom combat.
  • A Legion Halloween, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): A LLH Special set between Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen. When the Legion holds a costume ball, several Legionnaires fight a real Halloween horror, and one discovers a secret that could change her life forever.
  • Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: Meta Yo Mama, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Even young superheroes play “Yo Mama” for fun, as the Legion's advisor finds out during an early-evening patrol of Legion Tower.
  • Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: A Quintessential Attitude, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Quinn's always been considered shallow, but as the newest Legionnaire discovers, even the carrot-topped fashion fiend has a heart.
  • Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: Waif Fu, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Sandi and Stacy go shopping. Three young punks decide to jump the two Legionnaires. Things get kinda sad after that.
  • Like Sandi, In The Hourglass, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The third in the Visitations series. Sandi gets a visit from The Man... and, perhaps, is the better for it.
  • A Path of Roses and Thorns, Part 1, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Daria’s Aunt Amy is getting married! Set in the Falling into College universe and told in flashback from the wedding day itself, it’s the story of how Aunt Amy managed to get on that bumpy road to the altar.
  • A Path of Roses and Thorns, Part 2, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The story of Amy’s trip down the aisle continues, complete with more bumps.
  • Size Does Matter, by HawkingRadiation, a.k.a. BlackHole (now up to Part 10 of 30+ posted elsewhere): What if Daria and Quinn were quite tall? How would they and their lives be different? How would everyone else react? Read how the characters deal with "big" problems in their daily life.
  • The Trouble With Veronica, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): What's with the third Morgendorffer sister? Where is she and why don't we ever see her around the house? Helen, Daria, and Quinn head to Grove Hills to see the youngest Morgendorffer… and you know what happens when Barksdale women get together.
  • When Worlds Divide, by BatLurker (Parts 1 and 2): The world of the adults has come to an abrupt end, and it is up to the kids to bring order back.

PPMB
  • Accidents Will Happen, by Undefinedlust (Part 2): Jane paced around her room nervously. She had just hurt her best friend, but worse than the crushing guilt she felt was the other feelings that were flowing into her head. OK Lane, what the hell just happened? How the hell could you have done that to your best friend?
  • Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale, by Doggieboy (Part 6): Scarlett suppressed a groan as her consciousness returned to her and she quickly opened her eyes and looked down. Then she winced and closed her eyes briefly. Oh, man, I’ve been in the same position all night. Wonder what time it is? Then she blinked and drew in a deep breath. John drugged me! (SFMB)
  • Cynic with a Vampire, by Peapotmaster (Part 2): “I’m from a far away country called Stokervania,” replied Veronique. “In my country, we like people who...” (FF.net)
  • Long Trek Home, by Ranger Thorne (continued): “Let me get this straight,” Jane finally said. “You and a bunch of high school kids have a starship and have traveled from another universe to get here?”
  • Snuffed Animals, by Disco316 (Part 9): Jane stared, unblinking, at the ferocious beast before her. The large feline stared back at her, as if preparing to pounce on its prey. Jane’s expression was deathly calm as she pondered the predator before her.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Happy (Former) New Year's Day!

Today is Lady Day, which was until 356 years ago New Year's Day in England, Ireland, Wales, and "the colonies." The year 1751 actually began on March 25th. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by England in 1752, so that year began on January 1st. The year 1751 was thus very short. The switch from Julian and Gregorian calendars actually has some importance in an unfinished Daria fanfic ("The Other").

Today is also Maryland Day, which would have had little effect on Daria and Jane even if they did live near Baltimore. Lord Baltimore and others founded the colony of Maryland 374 years ago. Brittany might have worked out a cheer for it, though.

Fifty-three years ago, Allen Ginsburg's poem "Howl" was declared obscene by U.S. Customs. This is the poem Daria tried reading to retirement-home seniors in "The Old and the Beautiful" ("I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix. . . .").

An interesting analysis of two Daria episodes, "Too Cute" and "Pierce Me," appears online here. A fan site I hadn't noticed before, The Daria Goodies Page, offers stuff to download. And another "adoptable" webpage on Daria is available on FanCast Beta.

On DariaWiki, Roentgen continues to improve on his already excellent list of Daria episodes, giving their original showtimes and plot summaries as well. Brother Grimace, Scissors MacGillicutty, and Richard Lobinske added more material as well.

A couple of updates:


PPMB
Also, Kristen Bealer and Richard Lobinske posted stories to Lawndale Online and Fanfiction.net.

Any more Dariacons being planned?

Friday, March 21, 2008

It came from TEH INERNETZ!!!!

Want to hear the real Sick Sad World? It's a music show on WRUV, 90.1 FM, based at the University of Vermont, Burlington VT. The DJ's name is Erin, and the show (according to one source) was named for the TV show on Daria. It plays Wednesdays at 2 p.m. You can get it through the Internet*, of course. I haven't heard it; it showed up on a search engine and looked interesting, so . . .

The coolest Jane Lane fan art I have seen in ages: Jane Lane in Succubus Mode. Whoa.

Speaking of Our Heroine, Jane, remember that Jane Lane action doll that came out a few years ago? No? Here it is again. It was a one-of-a-kind, and all we losers can do is drool over the photo.

And a few more Daria-oriented webpages in dire need of adoption and expansion and elaboration and correction and completion (by any willing and determined superfan):

Enjoy your adopted page and make us proud. Surprise us! Surprise everyone! Party on, it's Friday! More later if I wake up.

* With a capital I. Not to rub it in.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Mad Marchness Munches Muchly

1,400+ views, whee!

Right, enough of that.

Below are some more "adoptable" webpages about Daria, as discussed in an earlier blog post. All are in English. Take your time, look them over, then maybe pick one out and make yourself the resident expert there on Daria. Post pictures, comments, essays, chat, fresh links, messages, anything. Have fun with it. None of these are exclusively fanfic sites; most are informational and allow for reviews and opinions.
A side note: Looking for good Daria screen captures? Try this page in StarPulse. More soon, mebbe.

Monday, March 17, 2008

March Madness Madly Marches

I think I wrote something about basketball a few days ago, but I can't be bothered to go back and look. I mean, who cares, it's just a game. We have Daria to talk about.

One of the nice things about the Internet (which is spelled with a capital I by all literate, sophisticated, civilized adults who can properly spell) is the appearance of encyclopedia websites like Wikipedia that anyone can edit, even complete doofuses who spell Internet with a lower-case i. Daria fan sites and informational entries are no exception. Anyone can adopt a webpage about a favored topic and wax eloquent about it to the exclusion of all else, and if there was ever a topic worth waxing about, it is Daria.

We have the beloved DariaWiki, of course, but it never hurts to have more, more, MORE. Below are some adoptable webpages concerning Our Heroine (Jane Lane) and her sidekick Daria Morgendorffer. I have no idea exactly how adoptable (and adaptable) these are, but some note that you can add links, pictures, essays, message-board posts, and whatnot to them, even correcting descriptive information and adding your own. It's worth a try, and if you have some free time over lunch or after work to fix things the way you like them to be fixed, give it a shot.

But why do this, you ask? Because these links keep coming up on search engines, that's why. Any person researching Daria will always find one or more of them. And the more people we co-opt into supporting the DVDaria campaign, the better. True? Be an activist and go for it.

Note: This is the first installment of adoptable pages. There are quite a few of them out there.


Take your pick. As I said, more to come.

P.S. If you want to use some of the Daria pictures from this blog, feel free. I messed with a few of them to improve quality when possible, or to make a point (Quinn with pi on her shirt, for instance). Use 'em if you like 'em.