The Greatest Goth on Earth

Andrea's showing off some of her hidden talents for World Circus Day, but considering how little we actually learned about her during the show I suppose most of her talents were hidden. She could recite angry poetry and tell you where the bootlaces were at PayDay but the rest was up to our imaginations.

Given how much she stayed in the background, the tuning-out theme of Blah, Blah, Blah Day might be appropriate for her. People paid less attention to her than they did to Daria, and she most likely preferred it that way.

Perhaps she'll reveal yet another talent by sleeping upside and spreading rabies in honor of Bat Appreciation Day! It would fit surprisingly well with her goth persona, so it's entirely possible.

Fandom News!

• New official Daria toys are available!

Send In the Economist Clowns!

Mrs. Bennett is really getting into the spirit of American Circus Day, or perhaps she's decided that crazy diagrams aren't confusing enough for her students and is taking an even weirder approach to teaching economics. Either way, I suspect the classroom will be much livelier from now on.

In fact, they might as well forget about the learning and just celebrate World Party Day! If Brittany's parents are out of town then her house is an option, as long as no one minds the lack of jacuzzi.

Finally, if we get some rain (or an almost-but-not-really hurricane) then we could observe Find a Rainbow Day. Kevin's skill at creating rainbows is only matched by his ability to knock doors down with his head.

Fanfic Update!

• Devil Woman, by mystikexplosion (part 1): "In Jane’s room. Daria: ...is it just me, or are they louder than usual?"


• A diverted stream, by HeinousKim (COMPLETE!): "It happened after the hair fiasco, when Daria went to Jane to apologize."


• Homecoming, by davidfalkayn (part 19): "'And so you ended up in our universe.' Boris concluded. 'Yes, Sir.' Angie affirmed, 'As I told you earlier, all Q did was give me a start—a place to live and enough knowledge to get around. Everything else I learned and did on my own.'"

She Found a Career More Dignified Than Teaching Brittany and Kevin!

Mrs. Bennett has finally found a way to hold her students' attention, thanks to World Circus Day. However, even tightrope walkers and lion tamers won't make her economics lectures interesting.

Have you ever wanted to sleep upside-down and spread rabies? If so, then International Bat Appreciation Day is for you! Also, you might want to see a doctor about that rabies thing.

Does Jake know that today is also National Stress Awareness Day? If not, someone should ask him. I know he loves it when people ask him if he's stressed!

Fanfic Update!

• The F Files, by jones2000 (part 8): "Unbeknownst to her, Jodie wasn't the only one to hear the running footsteps behind them."


• Take Jupiter From My Shoulders and Just Hold Her Awhile, by radiofox (parts 2 and 3): "A few hours after talking to Helen, Jane slowly succumbed to sleep as Daria and her finished another horror movie." (Part 3)

After Lawndale High, a Circus is a Step UP

Mrs. Bennett has chosen a new career path just in time for World Circus Day! Now I'm wondering if those insane economics diagrams were just a gag that the students weren't in on.

Today is also International Bat Appreciation Day, so today's the big day for anyone who's always wanted to sleep upside-down and spread rabies. Just don't tell the folks at Quiet Ivy.

Fandom News!

• Is My Little Pony too violent for China? Discuss it in the thread.


• Talk about the death of Bernie Madoff.


• What movies would you add to the Midnight Madness Hall of Fame?

Send In the Economics Teachers

Not sure if Mrs. Bennett is trying to be the tallest teacher at Lawndale High or she's celebrating the anniversary of Charles Ringling's birth on this day in 1863. Ringling, of course, was one of the owners of the Ringling Brothers Circus, and if Ms. Li finds out one of her teachers is trying to turn her school into a literal circus she's going to be furious. Hold on while I make some popcorn.

Today is also Britney Spears's birthday, and I only bring it up so you know that I could have used the Ms. Barch-as-Britney alter ego instead. You're welcome.

Fandom News!

• Vote in WildDogJJ's new poll: Is this a good idea?


• Rest in peace, David Prowse.


• What is the episode that changed your mind?

An Economical Ringmaster

Mrs. Bennett is getting into the circus spirit because Charles Ringling, of the Ringling Brothers, was born on this day in 1863. Do you think she's going to turn those balloons into Fuzzy Wuzzy Wee Bit balloon animals? Or will she just take her students on another useless field trip to the big top?

Meanwhile, the PPMB is still down as of the time of this post, but you can check the status on the Paperpusher MB Twitter account and post on the new thread on the SFMB.

Fanfic Update!

Most of the links below won't work until the PPMB is back up, but enjoy some quote fragments in the meantime!

• "Aw Mama...Can This Really Be The End?", by Scissors MacGillicutty (part 29): "'I must hand it to you, Marlo. That meal wasn't only excellent, it was an education.' Carothers smoothed his double knit tie against his plaid shirt as he stood up."


• Daria: College Pains Redux, by James the Lesser (part 25): "Daria steps out of the administration building after spending hours going through paper work. 'I did it. It's official.' She was no longer going to become a teacher."


• Lawndale and Sandi Griffin's Genie: Future Excerpt 2, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 1): "Back in Lawndale, Sandi’s mother, Linda arrived back at her house. She almost fainted in shock at the sight of the mess."

Send in the (Economical) Clowns!

Happy birthday to Charles Ringling, one of the Ringling Brothers, born on this day in 1863. The Ringling Brothers created one of the most successful circuses of all time, which may be of interest to Daria, who swore to join the circus at the idea of her parents, well...you know. And given Jake and Helen's enthusiasm, I think she just might have to.

Today is also Britney Spears' birthday, although I think even the Fashion Club has lost interest in her by now. Aren't you all glad I went with the Mrs. Bennett circus clown alter ego over the Ms. Barch Britney Spears alter ego, though?

Fandom News!

• Does your mileage vary? Discuss the stuff that you like that others don't, or vice versa!


• OverlordMikey is looking for information on Social Security.


• Raskolnikov wonders about sexual assault in the US military.


• What, if any, are the pitfalls of corporate and romantic entanglements?


• What do you think of Daria fics without any Daria characters in them?

More Mulling, This Time on Words

Tiffany will continue the circus meme while other things are discussed.

Being a former editor, I love words. One came up as I was revamping the Daria Directory at left: supersite. The given definition seems too narrow, but others seem too broad. We expect a lot from our supersites (Outpost Daria, Glitter Berries, Lawndale Online, etc.). How would you define an Internet "supersite" in the context of our own little fandom?

Another word that could be applied to supersites in our fandom is vortal, or vertical portal. In our fandom we don't make any profit from our websites, since we don't own the core content (I sure don't make any money, but if I did it would ruin my hobby), but webmasters still "target a niche market of consumers" in exchange for a little fame and, dare I say it, popularity. This is also called niche blogging.

Alas, those who get too much into creating these websites risk being seen as having issues, but that does not stop anyone from trying.

Any thoughts on this of your own?

Life Is a Circus!

Today I was in a quandary whether to celebrate the birth of that guy Ringling, who started the Ringling Brothers Circus, or Britney Spears, whose birthday it also is, and it took me .021 seconds to decide that even with an official MTV alter ego of Ms. Barch as Britney, I would still rather show Mrs. Bennett as a clown on stilts. Yo, Ringling!

Still working on spicing up this drab, dreary blog page. More in a day or so.

LATE ADD: It is interesting that a number of cast alter egos were done as circus performers. (Click on "circus" below for a few examples.) This and a few similar memes in the alter ego field make me wonder if the artists for Daria were sometimes given a theme they each had to explore. ("Okay, today everyone has to draw a cast character as an animal!" or "Let's do alter egos of cast members as famous singers and musicians!")

Juggling Things

Odds and ends...

The image of Jodie at right is one of a surprising number of circus-type alter egos at the MTV website. The artists must have played around with a theme there.

Dr. Mike wants some feedback about what should be done with a domain he has: daria.be (Belgium). Anyone have ideas? Post to his blog at the link.

On PPMB, Legendeld brought up a curious trial going on in Britain about a man being charged with writing obscenity, when he wrote a real-person fanfic (with some sex in it, I would guess). Interesting. Wouldn't hurt to follow that news.

A woman in Japan was also arrested for "killing" a fictional character, and you will have to read the whole story to understand what went on. I believe she was really arrested for illegal computer use (hacking), but there will be more on that story, I am sure. Can we be imprisoned for killing imaginary people? That trial in Britain makes me wonder. Oh, what the heck. Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!

Oh, and I saw that today is like the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Smurfs. I... don't think we need to celebrate that, although there have been Daria/Smurf crossovers. Pass.

Ka-BOOM!!!

Twenty-eight years ago today, Mount St. Helens blew up in Oregon. I was in Germany in the Army at the time. One of the suspected aftereffects of the explosion was that in June that year it literally rained, with barely a pause, for over 40 days and nights across Europe. The Europeans grumbled and blamed it on the U.S., of course. It was our volcano.

Sexy image there of fire-breathing Helen. We will refer back to it later when we conduct a purely scientific examination of her, um, physical assets. (I'm working on it, BG.)

MMan has offered a new and intriguing PPMB Iron Chef, called Autobiography. "Timothy O'Neill has given all his classes an assignment: write your autobiography. Pick a Daria teen and show what his/her response is." The Iron Chef has already drawn one remarkable response, listed below.

Now 810 fans logged in at the Daria Fan Club. A little activity there, too. Keep it going.

Ranchoth offers a look into the technical side of his "It's a Job" post-IICY? universe, in which Daria goes to work for COBRA and does pretty darn good for herself. Her helicarrier, the CS Argent Bifid (trans.: "silver forked"), is depicted on DariaWiki in screencaps from old G.I. Joe TV episodes. The helicarrier's name doesn't make sense unless you realize that "silver" and "forked" both refer to "tongue," as in "silver tongued" and "forked tongue." Honeyed words that are all lies: exactly what Daria was hired by COBRA to produce in her flying print factory. Nice work.

What are the most disturbing images in Daria? Richard Lobinske thinks it's Mr. O'Neill's butt.

Got any obscure movie references made on the Daria show that no one else knows? Crossada75 is looking for others besides the one for The Gamma People.


FF.net

• Daria: The Door to safety is shut, by MrPowerpuff (Prologue and Parts 1 and 2): What am I doing hiding in a confessional at the Lawndale Church holding a gun in my hand pointing at the door?
• It's Like the Beginning of an Era, by Kristen Bealer (COMPLETE!)
• A Little Vacation, by Doggieboy80 (Epilogue 1)
  
• Someone Set Up Us the Bomb, by Smileyfax (Parts 2 to 4): This is certainly an unusual avocation for Daria: domestic atomic terrorist.
  

Fortress CINCGREEN

• Autobiography of Jane Lane, by CINCGREEN (COMPLETE!): This is beyond fantastic, it's so good. I dare not spoil it. Read it and hang on.

Lawndale Online

• Apocalyptic Daria, Part One, by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!)

PPMB

• Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: Dawn of a New Nightmare: Nice to see that Daria has a new hobby: gourmet cooking.
  
• Scenes that Should Be: Brains for Rent: Cypher offers an intriguing shipper you won't believe at first, but it totally works. My eyes almost popped out of my head. Good job!

More to be added as the day progresses, plus maybe I'll get some work done on the short story and think of an essay while pulling weeds.